Metamorphoze
by Murasaki Kaida
Summary: ShinoTen. A collection of Shino/Tenten oneshots of various ratings. Features Drunk!Shino, crack, AU, citrus, and KibaHina, GaaSaku, HidaTema and ShikaIno subpairings. See inside for more details.
1. Cocktail Robots

_DISCLAIMER: I don't own Naruto, it belongs to Masashi Kishimoto._

_NOTES: Written for Rel! This little drabble came about when she said that Shino, if he danced, would probably do the robot and body pop. Then, when we were in London, we saw a dance troupe with some guy doing the robot and body popping, and I couldn't resist any longer - it had to be written. Only...what was supposed to be a drabble become a large oneshot that expanded on the dancing and became an introduction to Drunk!Shino._

_Some things I should warn you about in this 'drabble' - Kiba and Shino are very drunk. There is Neji bashing (I don't hate Neji, I just found it very funny - not to mention I don't like NejiTen, so this was just my way of encouraging Shino on his quest). Shino, when drunk, gets a little loud, aggressive, and more brooding then normal._

_And a big lesson to be learned - Shino acting under the advice of Kiba isn't really a good thing. I'm sure he'll realise this when he sobers up._

_Hopefully the 'voice' of this story is formal and choppy enough to pass as being influenced by Drunk!Shino. The song I imagine Shino dancing to is one Rel showed me when I was typing this fic up. It's Just Dance, by Lady Gaga._

_A NOTE ABOUT THE STATUS. It will be listed as complete but will be updated whenever a new drabble is uploaded - so please don't think this is it, there's more to come._

_Enjoy, and please review!_

**TITLE:** Cocktail Robots

**PAIRINGS:** ShinoTen, KibaHina

**RATING:** Teen

**GENRE:** Humour/Romance

* * *

By the time Shino became aware, it was too late. He didn't particularly want to know how Kiba became so skilled in the art of spiking drinks with alcohol throughout a whole evening, without a seasoned ninja like himself noticing. It seemed like one of those skills that you should never bring up in public, like being able to dislocate joints at will or fart the national anthem.

Somehow, though, Kiba had managed to get an awful lot of alcohol into Shino's body undetected. And by the time Shino had caught on and tried to use his kikkai bugs to drain the alocohol away, they were already too drunk to do much more then roll around and twitter underneath his skin.

Yes, Kiba had thought this one out well. Touche, Kiba, touche. Shino had been too irritable and low to notice the intake of alcohol from what should have been perfectly regular fruit smoothies. Now, many smoothies down the line, Shino was drinking something Kiba had called a strawberry daiquiri and was trying to remember why he wore such a stifling jacket and underjacket.

Both were very problematic, of course – the underjacket's collar kept blocking his lips from the straw. The overjacket was stifling – claustrophobic, even. The hood felt like it was hugging his head, and he felt very overheated. His cheeks were especially warm. He wanted to take both jackets off and be done with them, except that the one time he'd pulled down his collar to sip on the straw, several girls in the nearby vicinity had turned an alarming shade of puce and hadn't stopped looking at him as of yet.

Girls who weren't the one he _wanted _to be looking.

Shino looked over his shoulder, frowning beneath his collar at the sight of Tenten chattering away to Haruno Sakura and Yamanaka Ino. The room was tilted slightly to the side for reasons he couldn't understand, but she was easily recognisable. He found it completely irrational that the one night he allowed Kiba to drag him to Konoha's newest cocktail bar would also be the one night that half of Konoha went as well, including the girl he couldn't take his eyes off of.

His lips drooped. A girl who probably also thought of him as the 'creepy bug guy who looks like a walking tarpaulin', as Yamanaka had so fondly dubbed him. Shino had never before thought of his bloodline limit and his family trait with anything other then pride and tonight was no difference except that, under the influence of much alcohol, he felt much more bitterness and resentment towards his ignorant fellow ninja.

He had no idea how Tenten felt about the kikkai that lived beneath his skin. As he watched her from behind his glasses, he decided that she was a strong kunoichi whose opinions he respected – her opinions were often valid and concise. This surely meant, that with those attractive qualities, she would –

He hung his head. No matter how he wanted to look at it, Tenten was a girl. Girls tended to run screaming at the sight of bugs. And, just his luck, his kikkai were often affected by his feelings and subtle bodily suggestions.

The image of a kikkai going straight for Tenten's chest and sending the weapon's master shrieking for the hills made him slump on the barstool. The kikkai would be able to convey its contentment at the softness of Tenten's chest through chakra later, but Shino would be irrevocably shamed and even more unlikely to catch her eye than before.

Shino blinked. He'd usually been quietly hopeless but lost in fantasy when it came to Tenten – the girl made him lose a fair bit of his practicality. But he'd never been this pessimistic before. He guessed (rightly) that alcohol and himself didn't mix, and that he was a depressive drinker.

And he hadn't _intentionally_ gotten drunk.

"I do not understand," Shino said miserably. He adjusted his sunglasses on his nose. His vision was hazy, and the darkness of the lenses were only making it worse. He might have actually considered taking them off, except that the red-faced girls were still watching him and he felt just a little afraid of them. He decided that this was because of the alcohol, too. He looked over at Kiba, who was also rather sideways (along with being blurry) and finishing his frozen margarita in greedy gulps. "KIBA!"

The sudden loudness of his voice starled both himself and the dog ninja. Akamaru got up from the floor and gave Shino a curious look. Shino ducked his head inside his underjacket collar, briefly ashamed of his uncontrollable vocals. Kiba blinked at him, a little hazy. The Inuzuka had imbibed just over double the amount Shino had – but then, Shino had never had alcohol before and was bound to be a lightweight. "What?"

"Why would you bring a cocktail bar to me? How could you put drink in my alcohol?" The bug ninja rested his forehead in his hands, the room spinning. "Wait..."

"It's normal, Shino," Kiba slurred, slapping his teammate on the back. Shino's body slumped forward with the slap and his forehead knocked the thankfully empty daiquiri glass over. Both ninja winced as it bounced against the wooden counter, and then breathed sighs of relief when it didn't break. "You're drunk. Figured it'd do you some good, but I knew you wouldn't have the balls to drink alcohol willingly."

The balls? Shino glared at his teammate, an eyebrow twitching. It had nothing to do with balls and everything to do with how alcohol affected both the kikkai and himself. Thanks to Kiba, Shino was now unable to control his bugs, who were almost paralytic.

This was why Shino often reconsidered calling Kiba a 'friend'. The Inuzuka paid little consideration to minor details, such as feelings. He would go off on missions excluding Shino without a second thought. Shino felt that he would love to find a mission that Kiba wasn't selected for and then rub it in the insensitive idiot's face.

Suddenly overwhelmed with the unfairness of it all, Shino narrowed his foggy eyes and tried to send a kikkai to zap Kiba. When the drunken bugs refused to obey, he turned his back on the ninja and clumsily turned on his stool to face the person on his other side.

Hinata was a good person, Shino decided, very grateful for her all of a sudden. She left him too, but she always apologised. Even though she wasn't very courageous around insects, she stood by him like a comrade should.

"You are a good friend, Hinata," Shino said sincerely to her, patting her on the arm. "I feel you should know."

Hinata glared at him, nursing her screwdriver. "I am _Neji_, you oaf."

Shino squinted. Now that Hinata mentioned it, she did look rather more masculine then before, and her voice was a little deep. He couldn't remember at what stage Hinata had turned into Neji, and it was very confusing. "I see," he said. "For how long have you been Neji?"

Next to him, Kiba began to choke and splutter, spraying his cocktail over the bar as he began to laugh. Neji gave Shino a disgusted look and got up, taking his screwdriver away with him. Shino felt that this was very rude, and vowed to pay Neji back as soon as his kikkai were sober.

"Where did Hinata go?" Shino asked Kiba. He had to tell her how good she was – it was of the upmost importance.

Even through the film over his eyes, Shino could see Kiba's face darken. "Who knows? She's probably gone off with someone – she could have _anyone_ she wants, you know?" Akamaru whined lowly, sadly, and Kiba stroked his head.

Shino blinked. "Hinata does not want 'anyone'."

Kiba barked out a harsh laugh, draining his cocktail and slamming his glass down onto the bar with unnecessary force. "Yeah, I know. Known for the longest time – ain't that the limit?"

Shino was amazed that he could be so amazed at Kiba's stupidity even when drunk. He was amazed that he could fit amazed so many times into a sentence, as well, but tried to focus on the topic at hand. If Kiba knew who Hinata wanted, why didn't he react? If Tenten gave Shino the correct signals, he would hardly sit around drinking cocktails. He wasn't sure _what_ he would do, but nothing was not an option. "Then why are you still here?"

Kiba glared. "Where else would I go, dummy?"

Normally, Shino hated to have his intelligence insulted, especially when it was vastly above Kiba's. However, the wonderful effect of alcohol meant that he tried to zap Kiba with his bugs and, when it didn't work again, decided to just let it slide. "To Hinata."

The dog ninja gestured for another drink, and glowered at Shino. "That a joke? Geez. Why would I sniff around Hinata when all she wants is Uzumaki? I'm not desperate."

Shino rather felt that Kiba _was_ desperate, given the amount he was drinking and the way he noticed the Inuzuka shooting looks towards the Hyuuga girl across the bar. He had never realised that Kiba had feelings for Hinata until now – Shino was impressed that he'd kept his feelings so well masked. And he suddenly understood the reason for Kiba's restraint.

He believed that Hinata wanted Naruto. And he wasn't interfering for the sake of Hinata's happiness. Even though he thought that Kiba was clearly a gargantuan idiot for not realising the truth, Shino felt a small blossom of warmth for him. "You are a good friend, Kiba."

He waited for Kiba to say that he was actually Hana. Instead, he got: "Shut up, bug boy."

"Do not tell me to shut up when this is YOUR FAULT," Shino glowered – his voice rising again and surprising several nearby ninja, including Kiba. He didn't bother to lower his voice this time. He was too dizzy and incoherent to care.

"I just got you a little drunk!" Kiba snickered, edging away from Shino on his stool. He didn't believe the bug ninja would ever attack him, but even he had to admit that Shino was a scary drunk. "Plus, you might actually have the guts to make a move on Tenten."

Shino rolled his eyes behind his glasses and inwardly used every curse he'd never say out loud before he realised what Kiba had said. He turned towards the dog ninja, almost sliding off of the stool with his uncoordinated movements. A wave of dizziness struck him and he stopped himself from pitching forward into Kiba's lap by grasping the edge of the bar. "What did you say?"

"C'mon, man," Kiba shrugged. "You're about as subtle as Uzumaki around a ramen stand."

He felt mortified. What signals had he given? How had he been so obvious that even Kiba had noticed? He twitched on the stool, wondering just how many people knew that Shino had a crush on Tenten. Did Tenten herself know?

He felt the happiness drain out of the world. It would be over before anything could even start.

"Relax," Kiba laughed. "I would never have noticed if I couldn't pick up on pheremones. No one could notice you staring with that get-up, anyhow."

Shino was too on-edge to be relieved. Because his kikkai were indisposed, he settled for kicking Kiba in the shin.

"OUCH! The fuck was that for?"

"You are not a good friend," Shino said, hoping to hurt Kiba with the conviction in his voice. "You are..." He searched his memory for derogatory terms and said the first one he could remember. "...an asshat."

Kiba stared. "Did you just call me an asshat?"

"If the shoe fitssss."

"...are you slurring?"

"No."

"You are."

"_No_."

"You really need to learn to curse better, Shino." Kiba shook his head. "Asshat? What are you, a twelve-year-old girl?"

Shino glared.

"You're meant to say stuff like, 'suck my balls', or 'smoke my pole'. Call me a fucker, a dick, a gutterslut – anything but that poor excuse of a word."

Shino's glare deepened, and his eyebrow twitched.

Kiba held his hands up. "Look man, whatever. Point is, you like Tenten. You should _tell_ Tenten."

"Hypocrite," Shino muttered, his cheeks red. He had considered telling Tenten several times, but whenever he had decided that he would, he'd seen her with a friend, or with that abominable Hyuuga Neji, and he would lose his confidence. Tenten always seemed to glow around Neji – and Neji was Shino's complete opposite when it came to outfits and possession of bugs.

"Oh shut it," Kiba said, turning red. "Like Hinata would ever like me."

"You are a fool," Shino replied. Kiba clearly wasn't as good at reading pheremones as he liked to think.

Trying to steer the conversation away from himself, Kiba said, "Look, knowing you, you'll be all emo and regret it for the rest of your life if you don't at least try. At least if you _do_ try and she turns you down, you'll only be emo without the regrets."

Shino glared, but it went unnoticed because of his glasses.

"You gotta snap her up before someone else does, man," Kiba said, and sighed. "Trust me on that."

Shino shook his head. He could see the wisdom in Kiba's words, even if the other ninja's melancholy was unfounded. He looked around the bar, annoyed at the fact that his vision was still skewed, and found Tenten. "She is perfect," he said aloud. "So strong and elegant at the same time. She even looks queenly when speaking to Hinata."

Kiba looked over his shoulder and raised an eyebrow. "That's Neji, dumbass."

Shino went cold. Even his drunken, chittering kikkai seemed to snap to attention. The one responsible for their host's interest – and the one who could be the heir to their pact and bloodline limit – was being threatened by a lady boy. This was _not_ allowed.

Noticing the sudden deep freeze in his teammate, Kiba looked over curiously. Shino looked perfectly normal, except for the deep furrow between his brows. It was more of an instinctual thing, and Kiba figured that if instinctually-felt hostility could kill, then Neji would be filleted, fried and served with teriyaki sauce.

Maybe it was because of the alcohol, but Kiba suddenly had an idea and it seemed like the best idea in the world. He grinned at Akamaru, who wagged his tail at this sign of happiness but was smart enough to eyeball Kiba nervously.

"Oi, Shino."

The bug ninja grunted in reply, imagining his kikkai pulling the perfect Hyuuga's hair out strand by strand. The other man was dancing with Tenten now, who looked a little flustered. For a brief moment, Tenten's chocolate eyes had landed on Shino's...erm...lenses, and then she let herself get taken over to the crowded dancefloor.

"Let's do a dare."

Dares with Kiba could only be bad, but Shino needed distracting. He realised that with or without functioning kikkai, he was only moments away from poking Neji's eyes out.

"You make a move on Tenten, and I'll make a move on Hinata. I _triple_ dare both of us."

Shino tensed in surprise, and turned to look at Kiba. The dog ninja smirked and raised his cocktail as if in toast.

"Unless you're too chicken."

Shino hesitated. He was sure there must be an ulterior motive, but his mind wasn't working to the best of its ability and he was too caught up on the implications to care. This would be the perfect opportunity to approach Tenten and, curse his pride, leave unscathed in case she said no. Publicly, anyway. In his heart, he would be crushed no matter what.

"What is the catch?"

Kiba grinned. "If neither of us do it, we have to accept that D Rank mission the old lady with the farm has had pinned up for a few days now."

Shino cringed. It was a farm of terrors and nobody wanted to accept that mission. Ever.

It was a bad idea. He knew it, even past the spiked drinks and the strawberry daiquiri. And yet, as he watched Tenten dancing with Neji on the dancefloor, beneath the colourful strobe lights, the overwhelming wish that it was him brought him to a decision.

"I accept."

Kiba snicked and slapped a palm on the bar. "Excellent!" He looked over to where Hinata was listening to a raving Naruto, a small smile on her face and a little blush on her cheeks. "We start now and have until midnight. Gives us one and a half hours." He drained the last of his cocktail, suddenly enthused.

Even if he didn't win Hinata from Naruto, he'd sure have fun trying. Slipping away from Shino, Kiba walked towards Hinata and Naruto with Akamaru hot on his heels. While tipsy, Kiba had a high tolerance for alcohol and was able to walk in a fairly straight line.

That was until he got closer to the pair, which was when he tripped over thin air and fell between Naruto and Hinata, landing against the table behind them. "Ooopsie!" He slurred.

"Kiba-kun!" Hinata gasped, helping him up. Her face went red when Kiba grinned down at her. "A-are you alright?"

"I'm fiiiiiine," Kiba bellowed. "Just had a few too many margaritas." He turned and slapped Naruto on the shoulder, hard enough to startle the jinchuuriki. "Naruto! It's been a while. What are you doing, hanging around Hinata?"

If Naruto caught the note in Kiba's voice, he didn't show it. He grinned and shrugged, sipping his iced tea. "I bumped into Hinata on the way here, and had to check this place out! Oi, you okay Kiba?" He squinted at the dog ninja's face. "You have a creepy grin on your face."

"Do I?" Kiba's eerie grin grew even wider and he flung an arm around Hinata's shoulder. The young woman squeaked, almost fainting, and her wobbly legs made her burrow further against Kiba's side. "I'm just happy to see my friends! Nothing creepy in that."

Naruto begged to differ, but he just laughed awkwardly instead. Rubbing the back of his head, the blond slowly backed away. He didn't know what was wrong with Kiba, and he wasn't particularly fond of finding out what. "I'll, uh – I'll just go find Sakura-chan. See ya!" He zipped off.

Kiba chuckled. He was glad that he'd stolen the ex-lax liquid tabs from Sakura's medic pouch – he'd always known he'd find a use for them, and with Naruto holding his drink right there – well, it'd been too good to pass up.

Content with knowing that Naruto would be otherwise occupied for the rest of the night, Kiba turned a 1000 watt smile on Hinata. "So – what's a girl like you doing here, Hinata?"

* * *

Shino lost and regained his courage several times while on his barstool, willing his kikkai to sober up enough to be there to support him should he need it...even though he had ordered, and drained, another two daiquiris in record time. Eventually, realising that they were truly out for the count, he slumped against the bar and almost gave up for good.

Until he noticed that Tenten was still dancing with Neji.

He glared. Neji was...average. Average looks, average intelligence. For someone as practical and smart as Tenten to like the Hyuuga would be an insult to themselves. Shino could not stand the idea of Tenten insulting herself.

He got off of the barstool and nearly faceplanted. He was surprised by just how badly alcohol hindered his body, and wondered how the Hokage managed to get by on a daily basis. With renewed respect for the busty woman, Shino took a deep breath and tried to walk as confidently and straightly as possible.

He wasn't even sure what he was doing. He was letting his body and the drink work for him, and that was unfortunate, because he stumbled several times and almost tripped over his own feet.

By the time he reached the dancing pair, he very nearly wanted to back out from his embarrassment.

However, the sight of Neji's irritated look when he saw Shino made the bug ninja's resolve return in droves. Shino glared at Neji through his glasses and the cocktail goggles he wore.

"I'm cutting in," Shino said, and stepped between Neji and Tenten. Tenten's eyes widened, a flush rising on her cheeks. She looked wonderful, in a cheongsam dress of warm muted reds that complimented her colouring. If Kiba could really sense pheremones, Shino was sure that he was broadcasting his impure thoughts to the dog ninja at that very moment.

"I don't – " The angry Hyuuga began.

"Did you not hear me?" Shino asked curtly, slurring his words. "Allow me to assist you, Hyuuga-san."

He took the hood off of his head and unzipped the high collar of his underjacket. He pulled the collar down, exposing his face to the bar and causing several fangirls to collapse.

"I said," Shino glared, his voice completely monotone (an interesting affect when paired with drunken slurring), "I'm cutting in. So I request that you leave, or I will have have to ask you to suck my balls."

Shino had no idea how Kiba could have heard him from the other side of the bar, but he didn't doubt that the raucous laughter he heard was because of him.

"_Excuse_ – "

It was at that moment that Shino's kikkai, not wanting to waste this opportunity for their host to find a mate, acted completely of their own accord and swarmed out of Shino's coat. Neji, while not terrified of bugs, was wisely terrified of chakra-enhanced, angry drunken bugs. He turned heel and ran with the little black cloud of dazed bugs following him and occasionally flying into walls.

On a high from his boldness and Neji's complete humiliation, Shino turned back to Tenten.

And was then presented with something of an issue.

He didn't know how to dance.

"Shino, I..." Tenten's amazement was written all over her face, and she was turning redder and redder the more she looked at him. "You...your coat..."

She didn't even seem concerned about Neji, which delighted Shino to no end. If he'd known his face would have this effect on her, he might have unzipped his coat sooner.

Testing this new tool, Shino gave her a small smile.

Tenten gulped.

"Dance with me," Shino said, his voice a little louder and more commanding then he intended. He wondered if he should apologise, but Tenten – looking dazed and very starstruck, nodded weakly and began to sway as a new track came on. Remembering that he couldn't dance, Shino cursed himself for his stupidity.

Then he heard the beat of the song and realised that this...this he could do.

Were Shino sober, the idea of dancing in front of anybody would never have made it past his brain. If someone had suggested it, they would probably have made an exit much like Hyuuga Neji just did.

But luckily for Shino, he was anything but sober.

And so he began to do The Robot.

Tenten's dancing slowed down, completely at odds to the pacey beat, as she stared in awe. Shino – stoic, silent and brooding Shino – was doing a dance that, while probably the only plausible one for him to do, was completely against everything Shino-related she'd ever stored in her brain.

And the infatuated girl had stored a lot.

At first, she – and everyone else – wasn't sure what to think. Shino moved stiffly and acted the part of the robot so well that for a moment, the whole dancefloor was simply stunned and a little worried about the bug ninja. But when The Robot turned into a series of fluid body popping moves and impressive breakdancing, a few others began to copy him...and Tenten herself became completely focused on the liquid way that Shino was moving.

She felt rather then saw his eyes on her, and coughing at having been caught staring, she began to dance to match his movements. She never would have thought, in her wildest dreams, that the Shino who had seemed so lonesome and staunch and..._asexual_...would dance with her, scare off Neji...

And have one hell of a face.

Tenten wasn't a shallow girl, but that face launched all of her ships.

"You're a good dancer," she called to him over the loud music. She leant in closer, deciding that if Shino was going to get rid of his subtlety, so should she. She breathed in his scent and brushed her nose along his jaw.

Shino stiffened, his eyes widening behind his glasses. Her hair brushed his chin and the feeling momentarily cleared his foggy head. "So...so are you, Tenten-san..."

"Just Tenten," she replied, and Shino gasped when she tilted her head up to press her lips against his. It was a warm, gentle touch that sent spirals of heat and dizziness down to his feet. She took advantage of his surprise and ran her tongue along the seam of his lips before slipping it past them to touch his.

She pulled back to look him, amused to see shock and red cheeks on the usually expressionless face, but frustrated to realise that even in spite of this, she still didn't know what was going on inside his head. She touched his cheek, enjoying the warmth of his skin. "What are you thinking, Shino?"

He swallowed. "I am thinking of the daiquiris."

And he turned and threw up in the potted plant against the wall behind him.

* * *

Kiba had shot himself in the foot. He realised this now and dear god, did he feel stupid. When Chouji and Shikamaru had offered him a hit of their joint for courage's sake, he'd left Hinata alone for a moment and taken a big hit of the smokey treat.

But, in true stoned style, Kiba found himself distracted by food. He'd been so busy fighting over the last onion ring with Chouji that he lost track of what was happening, and when he turned around he saw Neji talking to Hinata. Akamaru had draped himself across the girl as possessively as possible, and was growling lowly at the Hyuuga.

Sensing something amiss, Kiba stomped over to where Hinata was sitting. "Everything okay? Sorry I was so long, Hinata." He flopped into the chair next to her and unashamedly put his arm across the back of her chair. She flushed darkly and dropped her gaze.

Kiba didn't know how to take these flushes, and she hadn't been very forthcoming all night. His only hint that he wasn't unwelcome was the faint traces of pheremones he was picking up on. Praying that they were for him, Kiba had continued his onslaught of conversation and gentle, subtle touches.

He didn't really do subtle, but...for Hinata, he knew he had to try.

He suddenly noticed that Hyuuga Neji looked very worse for wear. His hair was mussed and matted in places, his cheeks red. Sweat had gathered along his hairline. Kiba wrinkled his nose – Neji smelled very unappetising right now. He was sure that if the Neji Fanclub could borrow his senses and get a whiff of this, at least half of them would defect. "Oi oi – what happened here?"

Neji glowered and grit his teeth. "Hinata is coming home. She doesn't need to spend time in a place like _this_ with the likes of _you_."

Kiba sat up straighter. "_What_? The hell gives you the right to talk to me like that, jackass?"

"K-Kiba-kun, N-Nej – "

"You are beneath her," Neji replied. Kiba was sure that Neji wasn't this insufferable on most days, but the smell and the current attitude of the guy ex-nayed any sympathy he might have had. Those words were the _last_ thing Kiba wanted to hear.

"Neji!" Hinata gasped. "How could you?"

Seeing the horrified look on Hinata's face encouraged Kiba. Aside from what his nose told him, he had just received the first sign that she might actually be attainable.

"Well _you're_ beneath _me_, fuckface," Kiba replied, grinning. He looked at Hinata. "If it's intentions you're worried about, don't worry – mine are as good and pure as they get. I like her a _lot_ and I wouldn't ruin it by being a bastard."

At his words, Hinata swooned and almost fainted. Neji looked outraged.

"But it's none of your business anyway. Hinata will do whatever she wants with me, whenever she wants. So now," Kiba smirked, "I'm gonna have to ask you to suck my balls."

Neji's jaw flapped open and closed. He felt warmth on his leg and looked down to see Akamaru creating a waterfall against his leg. "DAMN IT!"

Kiba laughed, looking at Hinata, who blushed and looked down. He tipped her head back up with his finger. "I meant what I said, Hinata. I know you like Uzumaki, but..."

"N-Naruto-kun's my friend," she replied, eyes wide. "I d-don't like him like I l-like you..."

It was all of his Christmases, all at once. And all thanks to a dare he'd made with _Shino_, of all people. Suddenly feeling heady with the brilliance of it all, Kiba looked at her lips and leant in.

"Hinata, don't you d – "

Neji's threat was cut off as the wayward swarm of drunken kikkai, previously lost by Neji's quick escape and distracted by a woman they'd thought was him, flew towards him – chittering their triumph and bumping off of objects as they raced towards him. He yelled his frustration and ran, the cloud of inebriated bugs following in his wake.

He was completely ignored as Kiba's lips touched Hinata's for the first time, her soft gasp all the encouragement he needed to deepen it. At his feet, Akamaru gave a happy yip.

The dog felt very proud for suggesting they go to this bar in the first place.


	2. Wireless Crossroads

_DISCLAIMER: I don't own Naruto, I just play with the characters._

_MISC: This one wasn't prompted by Rel, but it's gifted to her all the same! It's the first thing I've written as a 21-year-old, wow. I wrote it when waiting for my sister to turn up so that birthday celebrations could begin and just had to quickly put it online for her, even though I'm still trying to finish what was meant to be the next drabble for this set, "Monopolise". This particular 'drabble' is AU and it's based around my current obsession - Guitar Hero. I'm not very good at Guitar Hero right now (I've only just started playing it) but damn, it's addictive. I've never had the opportunity to play on co-op before, so I hope I've described it as adequately as I can without having experienced it._

_Game Station, in case it's not an international store, is definitely a store here in the UK that sells games and consoles. I also don't know if Smarties exist outside of the UK? They're small, flattened round chocolate candies in coloured shells. Kind of like flat M&Ms without the peanuts. The note bars in Guitar Hero remind me of Smarties, so that's what I call them. The title for this drabble draws inspiration from the wireless guitar controllers for the game, and the legendary 'crossroads' where musicians (and often rock stars in particular) would sell their souls to the devil for skill and success._

_Stay tuned, more drabbles to come very soon!_

**TITLE:** Wireless Crossroads

**PAIRINGS:** ShinoTen, KibaHina, ShikaIno

**RATING:** PG-13

**GENRE:** AU/Romance/Humour

* * *

Tenten didn't know how to say it without sounding rude, and her mother had brought her up with manners. But dear god in heaven, she was bored bored BORED.

She was kind of touched by the shy romantic tension between Hyuuga Hinata and Inuzuka Kiba, and wished they'd kiss already. But they were also making her feel like a third wheel, and she was regretting her decision to come to the mall with them rather then go to Temari's band practice and catch a glimpse of the girl's hot brother, Kankurou.

Damn her conscience for making her spread her time evenly amongst her friends!

She sighed and leaned against the balcony, staring at the people milling around on the ground floor of the mall. Kiba was browsing the windows of a candy store, humming to himself as he waited for Hinata to finish up in the toilets. Tenten didn't mind that he'd forgotten she was there – he did this pretty much all the time anyway.

Hinata came back from the toilets, smiling gently and tucking dark hair behind her ears. Kiba's returning grin was warm, and Tenten felt a stab of jealousy. Whether they knew about each other's feelings didn't make much difference to her...she still wished she had that kind of chemistry with someone.

She thought she'd had it with Neji at first, but that was until she found out that he wore more makeup then her. And had better hair then her. Hell – she wouldn't have been surprised if one day he'd sprung a surprise pair of breasts in her face that, yes, were also better then hers.

A few people had suggested that she date her friend Lee but...no. Just no. The guy was constantly hyped on Red Bull, yammered on about the 'springtime of youth' and she'd seen what he wore when he trained in the dojo. She'd seen and tried to block the memory out, only to find the trauma burned too deeply into her retinas.

Tenten sighed.

"A-are you okay, Tenten-san?" Hinata nervously linked her arm with Tenten's and cocked her head curiously.

"Yup!" Tenten replied. "Shouldn't have eaten all those fries."

"Told you," Kiba snorted, conveniently ignoring the two double bacon cheeseburgers he'd scarfed down and followed with fries and a wedge of apple pie. "WHOA, wait!"

Both girls stopped and looked at him. Kiba bounced on the spot, staring excitedly at a store just a few units down. They followed his line of sight to the glowing sign for Game Station.

"Mario Kart! MARIO KART!" Kiba gasped. "I have to get a freaking copy of Mario Kart!"

"Oh no you don't," Tenten said, grabbing Kiba's collar before he could dart off. "What have we told you about playing too much Wii?"

"Uh...it's bad for me?" Kiba asked, his eyes guarded.

"And why is that?"

"Because...I'll get square eyes?"

Tenten glared. What was it with boys and game consoles? She decided to ignore the fact that she herself had spent many frustrated hours on Guitar Hero and Bleach: Shattered Blade, struggling to get better. She was nowhere near as obsessive as Kiba, of course. So what if she'd unlocked all of the Bleach characters in a weekend? That just meant that she was skilled.

"Because you forget to _live_, stupid," Tenten snapped. And the last thing Hinata needed was for her potential budding romance to be nipped in said bud by a stupid racing game.

Kiba tried to shake Tenten's grasp off of him, but she was freakishly strong and all he got for his efforts was sudden motion sickness when she began to shake him. "Oi, OI, get off! Look, I won't play it forever, okay?! But it's very important I get this game – the guys are coming over tomorrow and they'd _kill_ to play Mario Kart...just a second, okay? I'll be in there and out like Uzumaki in the girl's locker rooms, I swear."

"It's okay," Hinata said, smiling at Tenten. "Kiba-kun learned his lesson from last time."

Meaning from when he'd gone without food for too long, got repetitive strain injury in his wrist (supposedly from playing Wii – Ino had been sceptical about this), ended up dehydrated, and had fainted – falling on top of his Guitar Hero controller and breaking it.

"It better be seconds, Inuzuka," Tenten grumbled. She really wanted to go home right now – she felt like she was intruding, she was bored as hell, and she was meant to be doing homework. "Let's get moving."

Game Station was fairly crowded, since it was Saturday, and Tenten recognised some of the familiar faces immediately. Akimichi Chouji was stacking shelves, humming something off-key. Nara Shikamaru was behind the counter, staring at the customer he was serving with an extremely exasperated look. Granted, that look rarely left his face anyway – but he almost had sweatdrops today.

Uzumaki Naruto, the school clown, was excitedly showing Mortal Kombat: Armageddon to crackhead misfit, Sabaku Gaara – who looked unimpressed and ready to force Naruto to eat a knuckle sandwich. Instead, the redhead settled for taking the display case for the game and soundly thwacking Naruto across the head with it, his face completely impassive.

Tenten raised her hand in greeting to Shikamaru, who gave her a defeated nod in return as he said something to the customer. He was a strange one, that Shikamaru – but he was Ino's boyfriend, so Tenten had to put up with him no matter how much of a pain in the ass his 'troublesome' attitude was.

"THERE IT IS!" Kiba squealed, his voice so high it could break glass. He ran towards the display shelf where a box containing the game and one steering wheel controller sat, all on its lonesome. "THE LAST ONE!"

Tenten and Hinata watched, wide-eyed, as Kiba dove towards the box, his hand reaching out –

And touching the box at the same time as another hand.

For a brief moment, Kiba was confused. He couldn't remember reaching out two hands for his beloved Mario Kart.

Then he realised that he didn't have two right hands, and glared at whoever had tried to take his prize.

His gaze met wraparound black lenses, and his widening eyes were reflected back at him.

Aburame Shino, the 'creepy dude' and smartest of their year, glared back at Kiba from behind his sunglasses. Tenten could only stare in surprise – somehow, this was the last place she'd expect to see someone like Shino. Given his sunglasses, bandanna, baggy t-shirts, even baggier sweaters and jeans, and constantly bland expression she kind of figured he was always hunched over a chemistry set or something. Maybe even a baggie of weed.

He gave the impression of being a total freaky geek, and with his brains she wouldn't be surprised at all. It seemed he was a video gaming geek rather than the scientific kind.

It was a silent stand-off between the two boys for a few moments. Kiba's eyebrow twitched, but Shino didn't move a muscle. Neither one was willing to remove their hand from the box, well aware of the consequences. Hinata gripped Tenten's arm, looking as though she expected bloodshed.

"Let go, man – I was here first," Kiba insisted, glaring. "I promised Tenten I'd be done in seconds. Take your fucking hand off."

Tenten felt rather then saw his gaze slip to her before returning to Kiba. Shino's lips – nice, slightly full lips, she noted – parted. Everyone paying attention in the nearby vicinity tensed, waiting. It was so rare that Shino spoke (almost never, in fact) that whatever he did say tended to go down in legend...and end up warped by the time it had circulated the school.

Everyone waited with bated breath, wondering what would come out of the stoic boy's mouth.

"No," Shino said simply.

Tenten shuddered. His voice was deep and toneless. It had the slow quality of someone very detached and in control of themselves. They weren't bad qualities to have, she decided – but a little bit of passion never went amiss, either. She'd never seen or heard of Shino being passionate about _anything_...that didn't crawl around on multiple legs.

Kiba's eyes widened. Now very interested, Gaara moved out of the aisle to openly stare, Naruto on his heels. Chouji continued his guise of stacking the shelves, but his eyes were fixed on the scene. From three aisles down, a tall man with silver hair blinked violet eyes owlishly at the scene and grinned a grin that showed all of his teeth as he scented a possible fight. It was a look that was completely at odds with the Nintendo DS Cooking Mama game in his hand.

"Seriously man, it's _mine_ – I've been waiting weeks for this." Kiba gripped the box with better purchase, trying to tug it towards him. "Let go so I can buy it and then get the hell out of here."

He didn't manage to move the box a milimetre. Shino tightened his own hold until the cardboard began to depress under his thumb. "I have been waiting also. I have more right to this game then you. Why? Because I was in this store before you."

Kiba scoffed and leaned in closer, hoping to scare Shino off with his body language. "Tch! That don't mean shit – for all I know, you could've been looking at games on the other side of the store. Don't fuck around, man."

Shino didn't blink or budge. Tenten was impressed with his composure – Kiba was a pretty intense person to deal with, but it was like water off of a duck's back for the Aburame. She studied him closer, realising that she didn't really know him very well.

At school, he always sat towards the back and near the window. His eyes were constantly covered and no one knew the exact reason why – but since teachers let him wear them, everyone figured it was for medical reasons. He wore baggy clothes that hid his form and his jacket had a hood and collar that hid almost every part of him aside from his nose and cheeks.

He was an outcast. He creeped people out because he had an active interest in zoology and his way of speaking was hardly normal. He was a little too smart for the average dummy to cope with, but this was only figured out by the scoring lists tacked up in the corridors - he didn't brag about his scores. Didn't talk at all, really. Shino never spoke in class, was never called upon and...from what Tenten could tell...had no real friends.

And yet he had more than his fair share of balls.

"Let us settle this in a way befitting the circumstance," Shino said.

"Problem?" Shikamaru ambled up, his hands in his pockets.

"Yeah – this jerkoff won't let me buy my Mario Kart," Kiba muttered.

"It is not your Mario Kart," Shino said, at the same time as Tenten hissed: "It's not your Mario Kart, Kiba!" The Aburame turned his head sharply in her direction, and both Kiba and Hinata gave her stunned looks.

"Well...you both reached for it and..." Tenten flushed.

"I propose a competition," Shino continued, face still turned towards Tenten. "A Guitar Hero 3 competition. Whomever wins can take this copy of Mario Kart."

"Uh...we have a new shipment of Mario Karts coming in on Thursday," Chouji supplied from his position on the roller stool, stacking copies of Legend of Zelda.

"No strings?" Kiba asked.

"Of course not," Shino replied, looking at Kiba with a tiny hint of bewilderment in his voice at the question. It was good to know that even he could be bemused by the Inuzuka.

"If one of you were willing to wait..." Shikamaru tried, but was completely ignored.

"Expert?" Kiba asked, narrowing his eyes. He unconsciously tightened his hold on the Mario Kart.

"Number of the Beast," Shino replied, and all of the people listening drew in sharp breaths.

"Holy shit, someone's going down!" Naruto gaped, looking like all of his Christmases had come at once. He elbowed Gaara lightly in the ribs. The latter was too busy grinning ferally and imagining the virtual death of these two idiots to Iron Maiden to try and kill the blond.

From three aisles down, there was a high pitched giggle and a string of amused curses.

Tenten flinched and shared a worried look with Hinata. Kiba hadn't even managed to beat Number of the Beast on Medium, let alone Expert.

"It's n-not worth it, K-Kiba-kun," Hinata gasped. "Just w-wait until Thursday..."

"You should listen to her, man," Shikamaru said, looking between Shino and Kiba, who were locked in a silent battle of the eyes.

"Don't be a pussy," Gaara said to Kiba. "Or I'll kill you myself."

Kiba paled. He highly doubted Gaara was joking. "F-fine," he said, gulping.

Shino nodded, expressionless. He turned his head to Shikamaru. "Set the demonstration station to two-player please, Shikamaru."

Shikamaru rolled his eyes heavenwards. He could only hope that this would be good for business. Already, several people had gathered around to gawp at the two men warring over Mario Kart and watch him plug in the second controller.

"Let's let go of the console, then," Kiba said.

"After you," Shino nodded.

Kiba glared at him. "Why me?"

"Why? Because I do not trust you."

"Yeah? Well I don't trust you either."

"Then let us let go together."

"On the count of three?"

"Yes. One – "

"Two – "

"Three."

Everyone stared.

"You didn't let go!" Kiba shouted.

"Neither did you," Shino said simply.

"Why didn't you let go?!"

"No doubt for the same reasons you did not let go."

"Because you're a dick?"

"..."

"How about _I_ hold the damned game?" Tenten growled, holding out her hand. Both boys looked at her.

Kiba frowned. "How can I guarantee you'll give it to me if I win?"

She snarled. "Kiba, if you don't do _something_ to get me out of this freaking store, I'll shove it up your ass. How's that for giving it to you?"

Kiba gulped. Gaara's grin grew even wider. Naruto winced in sympathy.

Shino stared at Tenten from behind his shades.

Both boys, manoeuvring the game box between them carefully like an ambulance stretcher, deposited it into Tenten's hands and let go with obvious reluctance. They looked at each other, as though suddenly realising that they were actually going to play Iron Maiden on Expert for Mario Kart.

Shino looked completely calm. Kiba was going into brown alert. And yes, brown alert _definitely _existed.

"It's all set up," Shikamaru said, holding out both guitar controllers. One was a black Les Paul with a Guns N' Roses sticker near the whammy bar. The other was the red Aerosmith-edition Les Paul. Shino moved first, accepting the black Les Paul with fluid ease and putting the guitar strap over his head.

Kiba, looking a little sick, accepted the Aerosmith one and shakily pulled the strap over his head. He gripped the plastic neck as though it could save him, shooting a worried look at Tenten and Hinata.

From the aisles of the store, people gathered around the two boys standing in front of the demo station. Gaara and Naruto had the best vantage point to watch the simulated fretboards on screen – Naruto looking sympathetic, and Gaara looking as though he wished he had bottles filled with urine, so that he could throw them.

Chouji had abandoned his job and stood, staring in awe at what was taking place – unable to believe that two people could want Mario Kart so much. Shikamaru had moved to stand beside him, a weary look on his face. Next to them, a few other customers were gathering to take in the scene. From three aisles down, the silver-haired man strode out and moved to watch the proceedings, a huge grin on his handsome face.

Tenten watched the way Shino held the controller and scrolled through the co-op options. The muscles in his forearms flexed and rolled beneath pale skin, the look of complete concentration on what could be seen of his face strangely grim considering it was all for a stupid game.

Maybe it was one of those male pride things that Tenten never understood.

Maybe Shino and Kiba had issues. She had no idea.

What Tenten _did_ know was that Aburame Shino was actually kind of attractive.

The thought came out of nowhere, and Tenten began to choke on her own saliva. Hinata thwacked her on the back as she sputtered and coughed. Everyone turned to look at her, including Shino. She turned red and clapped a hand over her mouth to muffle the sounds.

Shino paused over the selection of Number of the Beast. "Are you certain you will not concede Mario Kart to me?"

If Kiba had been thinking of a way out before, it was obliterated by Shino's words which – to the Inuzuka – were a direct hit to his pride. Glaring, he held his controller at the ready, trying to act as though he wasn't sweating like a bitch. "Like hell, loser! Why would I?"

"Why? You will humiliate yourself in front of everyone here. That is why."

"WHY YOU LITTLE – "

"Just play already," Gaara snapped, crossing his arms. "I wanna see one of you crash and burn."

"Harsh, Gaara."

"Shut up, Naruto."

"Very well." Shino selected Number of the Beast and the loading screen came up.

Everyone held their breath. Giggles that managed to be quiet and high-pitched at the same time bubbled up from the silver-haired man's mouth. Gaara's face looked like it would break apart from his grin. Hinata paled, looking genuinely worried for Kiba.

Tenten watched Shino.

And all hell broke lose.

She'd never even tried to see Number of the Beast on Expert before, but it was like watching your life flash before your eyes while someone hacked off your head and pissed down your neck. The moment the coloured Smarties appeared on the fret board, fingers flew over the buttons on the guitar controller necks and right hands went nuts with the strumming bars and whammy bars.

The clicks and clacks of the guitar controllers were audible even over the heavy rhythm of Iron Maiden. Sweat leaked down Kiba's forehead as he played admirably, his fingers racing over the buttons in a confident way that belied the terrified look on his face.

Shino hadn't broken a sweat, his hands and fingers just as sure and quick as Kiba's. Tenten allowed herself a few moments of impure thoughts before she suddenly remembered that this was Shino, the school weirdo.

And found herself not caring at all.

Hoots and catcalls came from the spectators. Gaara was stomping his feet in time to the rhythm, his eyes greedy as he waited for someone to mess up. Chouji was holding his breath while Shikamaru winced and seemed to be fighting the urge to look away. The silver-haired guy giggled louder.

"Oh, Tenten," Hinata breathed, her eyes wide. "It's awful." Tenten patted her arm.

Shino had to be some sort of savant, Tenten decided. The calm way that he hit all of the Smarties without wasting a single movement or strum was incredible. The only hint that he was putting any effort in was the faint pink tinge to his pale cheeks. Maybe he really _was_ some sort of savant, like Rain Man.

Of course, the chances were that he was just a video game nerd who'd been playing Guitar Hero way too much.

As though sensing a crucial moment coming up, everyone sucked in a breath again. Shino turned his head slightly towards Tenten, and her heart skipped a beat when his lips curled into such a faint smile that if she hadn't been watching him closely, she never would have seen it. All the blood in her body rushed to her face.

And then the shit hit the fan.

Kiba struggled on a few notes. The fretboard on the screen shook when he missed them and his eyes widened in panic. The panic made him miss a few more.

Shino carried on playing perfectly – had even done so when looking at Tenten.

Was it wrong that a guy who was good at Guitar Hero, of all things, was what it took to get her hot?

"SHIT!" Kiba shrieked, fighting to get back in control of his fingerwork. Gaara cackled, his laughter joining in with the silver-haired man's. Shikamaru shook his head and closed his eyes.

Tenten's heart was racing with the tension. She found herself joining in with Naruto's whistles and cheering. At the sounds of her cheearleading, Shino's head jerked towards her and he missed two notes. Immediately, he was back in control.

Only two notes missed.

And as the song wound down, everyone knew who had been the superior player.

Kiba stared in horror at the scores on the screen, sweat dripping down his forehead. He'd just had his ass handed to him by Aburame Shino. He wasn't going to get his Mario Kart. He yelled his frustration and sank to his knees. Hinata rushed to his side. Gaara flicked him in the back of the head and hit him with the Mortal Kombat case.

Shino took the controller off and gave it to Shikamaru, nodding serenly to the cheering and hooting audience. He walked towards Tenten.

She flushed, wondering why he was coming towards her. He stopped directly in front of her, and even though she couldn't see his eyes she could feel the weight of his attention. Her heart flailed for a few seconds – before she remembered the game in her hands. Feeling stupid, she looked down at the box and cleared her throat.

Tenten held it out to him. "Uh, your prize."

Shino took Mario Kart with all the care of a mother handling a baby. He didn't look particularly excited or amazed to have won. He continued to look at Tenten.

_Oh, fuck it_, she thought. "W-would you like...a victory kiss?"

The silence she received was not what she'd hoped for. Embarrassment blossomed in her chest. She'd just offered herself up on a plate to Shino – she didn't really know what she'd expected.

"No," he said, further cementing her mortification.

She fought back the pricks in her eyes and wondered how the hell she should react in order to get out of there with her pride intact.

"It would hardly be right," Shino said. Tenten blinked up at him curiously. "Why not? Because it was an unfair fight. This victory was not worth one of your kisses."

Oh. OH. When he said it like that...wow, it was really, really flattering. Tenten turned unparalleled shades of red under his stare. "Oh...so...maybe some other...?"

"When I am truly triumphant," Shino said, "I will demand it."

She gaped.

Man, how did he turn her mind to mush with words she'd have slapped anyone else for?

She suddenly remembered something. "Hey – if it was an unfair fight, is it still okay of you to take Mario Kart?"

"Yes," Shino replied.

"Why?"

"Because I will not wait until Thursday."

With that, he turned his back to her and went to the tills to pay.


	3. Springtime of Youth

_DISCLAIMER: I don't own Naruto, it belongs to Masashi Kishimoto._

_NOTES: My first Shino lemon in this 'drabble', folks. I know, I know - I have no right to call these drabbles when they're so obviously oneshots because I write WAY too much. I figure his kikkai would have personalities of their own, so...you'll see. Also, I gave Shino's bugs a few nifty tricks in this fic, because I figure they aren't called destruction beetles just because they can eat your chakra._

_A NOTE ABOUT THE STATUS. It will be listed as complete but will be updated whenever a new drabble is uploaded - so please don't think this is it, there's more to come._

_Enjoy, and please review!_

**TITLE:** Springtime of Youth

**PAIRINGS:** ShinoTen

**RATING:** Mature

**GENRE:** Humour/Romance

* * *

"Tenten, NOOOOOOOOO!"

Lee barely managed to dodge a flurry of kunai, his large eyes even larger. Even he, the Beautiful Green Beast of Konoha, was having trouble avoiding Tenten's ire.

The weapon's master growled and released another scroll, her eyebrows drawn down. All she could see was hideous green spandex and dear god, she WANTED IT GONE.

Not in that way. Tenten paused in the middle of her attack to let herself feel ill at the mental slip. What she meant was that she wanted Lee dead. Very dead. And then she wanted his head as a trophy. Or if not a trophy, then something she could use as a football for a few hours.

"Please, calm down Tenten! I understand that you are invigorated with the power of youth, but – !!!" Lee ended with a squeak as a kunai narrowly missed removing him from the gene pool.

"Damn you!" Tenten yelled. "Again! AGAIN!"

"Forgive me, Tenten!" Lee cried, his eyes glistening. "It was out of my hands!"

A kunai thwacked into the tree behind him.

She was sick of it. Damned SICK of it. These jerks going off on missions and leaving her behind. Oh, never mind that she'd _merely_ spent most of her life training to be a shinobi for the use of this village, only for them to decide to forget about her all of the damn time.

What did Lee have that she didn't, aside from horrible eyebrows and an ambiguous relationship with their sensei? Tenten huffed and folded her arms.

"Leave him be, Tenten," Neji intoned. He, of course, had nothing to be mad about. He went on the stupid mission too. Tenten wanted to break his perfect nose. "Your skills were simply not...suited to this particular mission."

"Oh, bullsh – "

"Do you hear that?" Lee asked, looking around.

Tenten stared at him. "Hear what?"

"That sound!" Lee, eyes wide, pressed his ear to the tree behind him. When he didn't pick anything up, he began to move around, his head turned at a ridiculous angle so that his ear was leading him.

Tenten wondered if this was a not-so-clever attempt at distraction. The minute Lee got close enough, she decided, she would kick him in the bento box and enjoy every second of his wailing.

"You mean that buzzing sound?" Neji asked.

Huh. Retardation was catching.

"I don't hear anything," Tenten frowned, glaring suspiciously between the two of them. "If you're trying to distract me – "

"Hush and listen!" Neji snapped, cocking his head. Tenten sighed and obeyed. For moment, all she could hear was her own irritated pulse and the soft chirping of birds.

Then she could hear the buzzing, like the rapid thrum of tiny wings.

"Hey," she said, "that sounds like a – "

"Bug," Neji finished. He was staring at her shoulder. "It's on you."

Tenten looked down, blinking. Sure enough, there on her shoulder was a tiny beetle with vivid green eyes, little chattering mandibles and a light coloured pronotum. It was buzzing and bouncing on the white material of her shirt, its wing case shaking furiously.

If Tenten had been any other girl, she might have screamed herself silly. Luckily, though, Tenten had never been afraid of any bug except for the spider which – she was sure – had some sort of telepathic ability to cause irrational fear.

"Huh, so it is," she said. "Wonder why I didn't hear it before?" In fact, this beetle looked kind of like the ones that kept coming in through the window of her apartment. She'd been tempted to get a bug bomb and go nuts, but every time she'd considered it the bugs had left...only to return again later.

"Perhaps it has been with you for some time," Neji said. "You would have gotten used to the sound."

At the sound of his voice, the beetle flew off of her shoulder and shot towards Neji menacingly. To the surprise of all three ninja, it fired off a bolt of chakra that Neji managed to avoid at the last moment. The stunned Hyuuga landed a few feet away.

Sated, the bug returned to Tenten's shoulder.

"That isn't an ordinary bug," Lee blinked. He leant in for a closer look. To Neji's irritation, the beetle didn't so much as flutter a mandible. "It looks familiar."

"Yeah, its pals keep flooding my kitchen," Tenten muttered, rubbing her forehead. "Please, PLEASE tell me I'm not getting infested with beetles."

Neji, cautiously stepping closer until the warning flutter of the beetle made him stop, looked at Tenten. "These bugs are in your apartment?"

"It's spring," she replied with a shrug. "Bugs get everywhere in spring. It's annoying but, whatever."

"Bugs that fire chakra are NOT everywhere," Neji replied primly, glaring at Tenten.

"They haven't done it until now," she retorted. "I guess you get special treatment."

Neji flushed, and the beetle jittered cheerfully.

"He's lively," Lee grinned. He held a finger out towards the bug, which promptly turned its back on him and crawled further along Tenten's shoulder towards her neck. The tai jutsu user's eyes widened. "You don't think he's one of Aburame-san's, do you?"

"Eh?" Tenten blinked, looking between Neji and Lee. The beetle had crawled further up the mandarin collar of her shirt and its tiny legs were tickling her skin. Rather than be creeped out, Tenten was baffled at the strange behaviour of the bug. "You mean his kikkai bugs?"

She'd never seen them up close, so she couldn't tell. But it would make sense – the Aburame clan used chakra-charged bugs as their bloodline trait, after all. And no other chakra-infused bugs could be found in Konoha. She felt a little stupid for not thinking of it before.

"Must be, I guess," she replied, raising a curious brow.

"Which begs the question as to why his bugs are in your apartment and on your clothes," Neji frowned. He stepped forward, wanting to look at the beetle to see if he could identify it as one of Shino's.

This time, the beetle didn't miss. Neji juddered as if electrocuted and fell back onto his ass. "DAMN IT!"

"Whoa, he's a powerful little guy," Tenten laughed. She could have sworn the bug was laughing from inside her collar.

Lee looked crestfallen – he still had trouble bringing Neji down, and yet a tiny little bug had made the Hyuuga land on his butt in an undignified heap.

Neji stood up quickly, his cheeks red. "I suggest you go to Aburame," he growled, "and find out what he thinks he's up to."

"What's the big deal?" Tenten asked.

"You forget that those kikkai can be used for espionage," Neji snapped. "With that many kikkai in your apartment and on your person, what would _you_ believe they were doing?"

Tenten froze. Surely Shino wasn't that kind of person...okay, so she didn't really know him at all. But the few times she'd been around him, Shino had proven to be a remarkably mature and stoic person with an unusual pattern of speech. He wore many clothes and had recently taken to wearing a hooded coat over his high-collared underjacket, revealing nothing but a small rectangle of his face. And even then he wore wraparound sunglasses.

He didn't seem like the type who would use his kikkai for spying on a girl.

But now that Neji mentioned it, she couldn't shake the unease it gave her.

"I'll go and ask him about it," Tenten replied vacantly, feeling the bug scuttle over her collarbone to settle against her pulse point. She would ask him in a civilised manner and give him the benefit of the doubt. After all, even the Inuzuka family's nin dogs sometimes rebelled – why wouldn't Shino's bugs rebel every once in a while as well?

It took Tenten a little while to track the bug ninja down. Shino, it seemed, was able to slip through crowded streets undetected. Tenten would have praised him for it except that she knew him to be an exceptionally lonely and ignored ninja – he was probably even worse than herself. She felt a pang of sadness when everyone turned up a blank as to his whereabouts.

As she searched Konoha, the bug buzzed a soothing rhythm against her pulse point. Every now and then, she allowed it to take tiny amounts of chakra from her skin and felt oddly delighted with this symbiotic relationship – the life it gained from her, and the comfort she was taking from its presence.

It was a quirky little thing that seemed to display actual emotions. If it was indeed one of Shino's, she would be sorely disappointed to see the beetle go.

She came across the Aburame purely by accident – and would have walked right past him if the beetle's wings hadn't begun to beat against her throat rapidly. Confused by the sudden change in attitude – not frantic, but excited all the same – she had looked up. And there he was, leaning against a tree, his head turned in her direction.

Tenten swallowed. He looked quite intimidating. She was glad that he wore sunglasses, because she had the feeling that the full weight of his gaze would snap her in two. Gathering her wits, Tenten walked towards him. "Hello, Aburame-san!"

If he was surprised at her greeting, he didn't show it. "Tenten-san." His voice was deep, toneless and rich. He shifted a bit straighter, but remained against the tree with his hands in his jacket pockets.

"I have a question for you," Tenten said, deciding to cut to the chase. He didn't look like he was especially fond of small talk, and the beetle's frantic motions were beginning to tickle her. "Are you missing any kikkai?"

Shino's head inclined subtly. "..."

"It's just...uh..." Tenten flushed. "I've been having lots of beetles randomly flying around my apartment, and this little guy – " she pulled her collar aside to reveal the beetle " – has been hanging around with me for a while now. He knocked Neji on his butt with a chakra blast, so I doubt he's your average beetle...Aburame-san, are you okay?"

It was disconcerting, how pale Shino had turned. He'd been pale before, sure – but now he looked like he could glow in the dark, or at the very least show up under UV lighting. The furrow between his eyebrows had deepened, and Tenten bet that if his underjacket didn't cover his mouth, she'd be able to see it hanging open.

"He's yours then?"

There was a few moments of dumb silence, before Shino dropped his chin in a jerky nod.

"Ah. So...uh...I thought you'd like to take him back..." she pointed to the bug at her neck, who continued to flail around excitedly but had yet to leave her, "...and maybe watch out for the others, so that they don't go around my apartment again. Right?"

Her words seemed to snap him out of his stupour. Shino's head jerked up a little. "I did not know that your...apartment...was where they went." His voice was strained, his facial muscles a little too controlled. "My apologies."

So he wasn't spying on her? Tenten was suspicious now – because it looked as though he was breaking into a sweat. What was his problem?

"Right..." she pointed again. "You might wanna take him before he kills himself from over-excitement." She wanted to ask why his bugs would run away, but wasn't sure she wanted to know the answer. Shino himself didn't seem to want to know, so why would she?

He grunted his agreement and looked at the bug.

Silence.

"He will not listen," Shino said, and Tenten was surprised to hear a hint of annoyance in his voice.

"Oh...has he fed on too much of my chakra or something?" She asked, worried that she'd inadvertantly ruined one of Shino's kikkai.

"It would make no difference. Why, you ask? Because my kikkai were fused with me at birth. We are connected, no matter whose chakra they absorb." He was definitely stressy now.

Tenten's eyes widened. "Um...maybe I should just...?"

She reached down to her collarbone and gently scooped the bouncing bug onto her fingers. It continued to dance and jitter, fluttering its wings. She couldn't help but smile – who'd have thought something so perky would live inside Aburame Shino?

Amused, she held her hand out.

She heard a small intake of breath. Then, with cautious slowness, Shino reached out his own hand and laid the ends of his fingers over hers.

His touch was warm and Tenten gasped, feeling it shoot through her like the bolt that had pwned Neji. She stared at him, confused, and was disappointed to see no such reaction in the other ninja. She had no idea what she'd just felt, but it had definitely been just her. Maybe he'd sparked her with static or something.

As she and Shino began to manoeuvre their fingers around to shuffle the bug from her hand to his, Tenten caught herself admiring the long pianist's fingers with the rough callouses on their tips. His palms were large and strong, tapering into wonderfully structured wrists. He would have made a good tai jutsu fighter if he wasn't a bug user. He had beautiful hands –

_God, snap out of it_, she thought, flushing. One last dip of her hand, and she'd deposited the bug into Shino's palm.

She wasn't sure what disappointed her more – the loss of her new friend, or the removal of Shino's fingers from hers. She stepped back, feeling as though she was intruding on something very private all of a sudden.

Shino cupped his hands around the kikkai and cleared his throat. "Thank you, Tenten-san." His voice was tight and gruff. "I shall make sure that you are not bothered again."

She was about to tell him not to worry – that she wasn't bothered at all. But in a puff of smoke, Shino had disappeared, and Tenten was left more confused then she'd been before.

* * *

Tenten's morning ritual was simple: rise, have a shower, brush her teeth, moisturise, dress, do her hair and maybe add a minimal amount of makeup. Well, it was simple in comparison to Ino's rituals anyway.

By the time Tenten was done the morning after her exchange with Shino, the memory had faded from being the focus of her whole attention to being something that wandered in and out of her mind occasionally with a large 'WTF' stamped on it.

She didn't know Shino well enough for his behaviour to confuse her more than the odd 'strange, huh?' and so by the time she'd passed the first stages and was dressing, the incident was forgotten and replaced with a cheery expectation for the day.

After finishing her hair and a touch of eyeliner, Tenten hunted for her shoes and decided that some cereal and OJ wouldn't go amiss. She had plenty of time before breakfast before training – in fact, Gai-sensei would probably kick her halfway to Suna if she forgot the 'most important meal of the day'.

Tenten walked determinedly to the kitchen. She had a feeling that if she skipped breakfast today, it would be bad karma. Or a bad idea. Whatever.

Tenten entered the kitchen – and gasped.

Several kikkai examined the weapons she'd left on the kitchen table. They clicked their interest and skirted away from the sharp edges whenever they got too close. Some more flew laps around her Chinese lantern ceiling lampshade. Several littered the cupboards, looking like they were trying to find a way in.

As she stared in horror, one – who she somehow recognised as her friend from before – landed on her collarbone and chittered.

What. The. Hell.

No, seriously.

Tenten was alarmed. She'd been sure that after Shino's odd behaviour yesterday that she'd never see _him_ again, let alone his beetles.

She began to grow angry.

What was he playing at, that sneaky bug master? Was he spying on her after all? He could at least be subtle! No, no...he would _definitely_ be subtle, so spying was out. Was this some kind of elaborate joke? Surely he wasn't the type. Was –

The kikkai at her collarbone stamped a little pattern on her skin to catch her attention. To Tenten's surprise, the kikkai began sending images and feelings through its chakra. She didn't know why she was so surprised – Shino had to have detailed communication with them somehow. Maybe she was surprised that _she _could receive images from them. She wasn't sure at the moment.

She felt how the kikkai had (somehow) lived in her hair for a while, but preferred her neck. Her pulse soothed it. It was happy when she noticed it, and when Neji was injured. It was very clear about the fact that it would like to maim Neji for life.

Then Tenten began to receive images of Shino. They weren't revealing or intrusive – the Aburame was as disguised and mysterious as ever. But each image...was personal. Even with his full garb, Shino was naked to all of her senses as though she could actually smell him and touch him, hear his low breathing.

The images bled loneliness...a bitter kind that Tenten found herself responding to.

He looked so regal in these images. His cheekbones were high and aristocratic above his collar, his nose narrow and straight. His mouth, of course, was hidden along with his eyes, but a sense of melancholy was evident all the same.

The kikkai chirped, then sent another image – this one from yesterday, when their hands had touched. Shino looked remarkably uncomfortable – moreso than Tenten remembered. Through the little beetle's eyes, she noticed a strange set to the Aburame's face that her human eyes hadn't detected. She had the distinct feeling that Sino and the kikkai were holding out on something.

All of the kikkai in the room made chittering noises. It took Tenten a moment to realise that they were laughing at her. The beetles swarmed to the kitchen table, watching her with apparent interest.

"I don't get it," Tenten muttered. "If you're all so concerned about him and his loneliness, go back to him!"

More laughter. Some found it so amusing that they rolled onto their backs and twitched their legs.

"Why are you here?" She groaned. Their motives were beyond her – she could only guess that Shino had a hand in this _somehow_. She wished she knew how, she really did.

The kikkai at her throat sent her the same image of yesterday.

Tenten groaned and put her head in her hands. She could already tell that it was gonna be a long, long day.

* * *

It was getting distracting, trying to go about her usual business in Konoha with a swarm of bugs following her everywhere and clinging to her person. Eventually, Gai had sent her away both out of frustration and in a feeble attempt to save Neji's life.

And all the while, the kikkai fed her images of Shino.

Images from battle, from training, from the academy days. While the kikkai were never too informative or intrusive on Shino's carefully preserved privacy, they painted a good picture of the young Aburame all the same.

Tenten was getting to know him quite well.

Strong smells made him get migraines. He was the strongest of the clan and set to take over from his father. He was loyal and responsible. He liked control and was demanding. He cared but wasn't good at showing it. He hid his emotions for tactical reasons. He'd had a crush at the academy which had never quite faded away. He had never been drunk, or even attempted to drink alcohol. He'd almost been killed by Kankurou of Suna.

They showed her, she listened.

She liked what she heard.

The more Tenten heard about Shino, the more her daily searches for him became less about the beetles and more about her interest. She told herself that she wanted to relinquish the insects to him once and for all, but in truth she wanted to see a fraction of the truths the kikkai saw. She wanted to see the real, interesting and _good_ Aburame Shino for herself.

But he was nowhere to be found.

"Haven't seem him," Naruto shrugged. Tenten's shoulders slumped. Of course not. No one had. "Hey...did you know bugs are flying around your head?"

"Yes," she sighed.

"Oh...and, uh, there's some in your hair, too."

"I know."

"And on your – "

"I KNOW!"

The fact that several ambitious kikkai were taking up camp in her cleavage _hadn't_ escaped her attention, contrary to popular belief. No amount of hustling could get them to move and Tenten was terrified of just what they could see down there.

A week slipped by.

Tenten had become close to being a hermit as the rumour mills churned. The few enterprising nin who had tried to remove the bugs learned their lesson quickly and joined Neji in the queue to demand answers from one Aburame Shino in order to repair their battered pride.

Tenten headed the queue.

But Shino remained absent.

Tenten ate her breakfast mechanically, trying to ignore the cheerful bugs crawling through her hair. They were sending her images of Neji's latest public humiliation, clicking and chortling their joy. She'd had no idea that Shino's kikkai were such sadists until she'd been forced to live and share chakra with the little gits.

She was feeling pretty sadistic herself. No matter how friendly she'd become towards Shino (and she did feel friendly towards him – the kikkai had built up a strange sort of rapport, even if he hadn't been present for it) she still wanted to bust his balls for letting his bugs stalk her.

Seriously, what the hell?

Tenten sighed and put her spoon into her bowl, ignoring the image of Shino enjoying onigiri that was fired at her. The rice ball managed to hide most of his lower face, and she had the feeling that the kikkai were mocking her – dangling her curiosity in front of her on a string.

The ringleader of the kikkai, the one from her collarbone and the one she'd 'affectionately' nicknamed Pest, fell into her bowl and paddled around in the milk.

"DAMN IT!" She scooped him out with the spoon and dropped him onto the table. "I can't eat that now! That was totally gross, Pest."

The kikkai shook droplets of milk off and began to buzz wildly.

Tenten tensed. She knew him well enough now to know that it wasn't a good sign for her.

The other kikkai began to join in, quivering in an excited beat that her heart couldn't help but follow.

Her front door banged open and the tall form of Aburame Shino shadowed the doorway. He stepped in and kicked the door shut behind him, his arms folded across his chest.

"Oh, finally," Tenten huffed. "I've _only_ been looking for you all damned wee – "

She stopped, noticing for the first time the state of the man who had barged into her home.

His underjacket was unzipped. _Unzipped_. She stared in breathless silence at his pointed but sturdy jawline, his slightly full lips and elegant nose. He was breathing hard, laboriously, and his perfect cheekbones were flushed.

He was _stunning_.

And giving off strange chakra signals.

Pest chose that moment to fly to her collarbone and let her know just what those signals were.

Tenten's eyes widened and she gulped, standing up so quickly that her hip knocked the back of the chair. Shino unfolded his arms and watched her, the muscles in his jaw tense. He took a step forward.

"Shino," she asked, forgetting not to be so familiar and wincing when his lips twitched, "...are you okay...?" She choked on the words, unsure of whether to trust the all of the kikkai and their response to his odd chakra pulses.

"No."

The kikkai fluttered faster. Tenten gulped and flushed.

There was a shift in the air. The beetles fled her and sank into Shino's skin as he advanced on her, his movements quick and sure. Tenten stepped backwards, tripping over air and her feet until her back hit the refridgerator. She frowned and tried to step sideways, but Shino had already pinned her with a hand on either side of her head.

Tenten gasped. He smelled faintly like pine needles, and even then the smell had a mixed myriad that built it up in a way that told her he had actually been around pine needles to get the scent. Underneath that, she couldn't detect anything but the faintly masculine musk of his sweat.

"S-so," she stuttered, trying to sound casual. She wasn't casual, of course. Her heart had never gone so fast before and every nerve in her body was lit up like a fuse. "Mating season, huh?"

She liked Shino. After the interference of the kikkai, she _really _liked Shino – he made her feel warm inside and out. But surely this was too much – the way she felt like she was preening in response to his attention.

The muscles in his jaw ticked. His lips twisted into a look of what could have been displeasure or strain – she really didn't know. Seeing expressions on Shino at all was a foreign and confusing thing. "They told you."

"They've been pestering me for a week," Tenten said, surprisingly breathless. Shino was inches away from her face, his arms keeping her trapped between them against the fridge. "Th-they owe me some explan – "

His lips were as soft as they looked. That was her first thought, when they were suddenly pressed to hers firmly but with restraint. She froze, her mind trying to process everything and nothing at once. Instinctively, she pressed her mouth back against his out of curiosity rather than experience, and Shino's reaction was immediate.

He stepped closer, his body pressing her against the fridge. His lips were forceful and demanding – rough and clumsy but rich with enthusiasm. Tenten's body tingled, her arms winding around his neck as she leant up into his mouth.

He tasted like coffee. It amazed her and she nearly laughed against the tongue demanding entry at her lips. The mysterious and cold Aburame Shino tasted like coffee, and it was _good_.

She slanted her lips over his, sucking his tongue into her mouth. She had practiced kissing enough times that her inexperience didn't show very much, but the bug ninja was clearly holding back and uncertain with his technique. When she nipped his lower lip, Shino pushed his hips forward, the movement involuntary. Tenten broke the kiss, shock seeping into her mind at the feel of _him_ against her stomach.

"Erm..Sh-Shino – "

"I apologise," he said, his lips swollen and his chest heaving with the exertion. "But I may not be responsible for my actions from hereon out."

"What do you me - !"

He surged forwards, pushing her back against the fridge hard enough to jarr it and knock some photo albums off of the top of it. His mouth captured hers hungrily, his movements now confident and charged with pheremones that even Tenten could feel – though she blamed the kikkai completely.

She tried to return the kiss, bemused to find that Shino was quickly overpowering all of her efforts to lean the control in her favour. Growling, he pushed himself tightly against her and ground his hips forwards. Feeling faint, Tenten could only wrap a leg around his hip to prevent him from knocking her into the fridge – only to gasp at the way that it brought his hardness closer to the cradle of her hips. He gripped her thigh against him and his hood finally fell away from his head, his dark spiky hair mussed and soft to the fingers that immediately sought it out.

Their pelvises suddenly fell into rhythm, and she tightened the leg around his hip to hold him to her as he rocked her into the fridge, the strong scent of pine needles and the sweat that was building along their hairlines overpowering Tenten – intoxicating them both like a drug, and she forgot where she was and who she was and pretty much everything except _him_.

He pressed feverish kiss after feverish kiss to her swollen lips, flicking his tongue against them and nipping her lower lip as the hand holding her thigh to his hip tightened its grip. She gasped when she felt his free hand unfastening her trousers and tugging at them, her heart pounding in her ears.

Shino pulled her lower lip between his teeth and suckled it. She pulled away, running her mouth over the high angles of his cheeks, his forehead, and back down to lick at his lips before pulling him in for another deep kiss. She wasn't sure anymore who was more affected by mating season – him or her.

Tenten briefly thought that maybe the kikkai had done something to her. But her mind flung it out along with all other logic when Shino kissed her forehead in a tender way that made her breath hitch. It wasn't just tender – it was telling.

Shino flushed as she placed slow, lingering kisses on his mouth one after the other – languid touches that had them both shaking. She hoped her lips were as telling as his.

He had her shirt off and was yanking her trousers and gauze past her hips before she fully understood what was happening and he ground her back against the fridge, his lips crushing against hers.

Her shoulder blades hit the fridge hard, his lips bruising her mouth. His tongue twisted against hers, and Tenten stole the opportunity to unzip his jacket and shove it off. She expected some sort of refusal, but Shino helped her get rid of the jacket before divesting himself of the underjacket himself, leaving only his mesh shirt for her fingernails to snag on as she pressed her hands against his chest.

It was rushed. It was overheated. Neither was thinking properly.

It was perfect.

Shino stepped back to pull off his mesh shirt and Tenten went for his trousers – just getting her hand on the button before Shino knocked her away and pinned her back against the fridge. She looked up at him – wishing she could see his eyes. Just once.

Sensing the direction of her thoughts, Shino's lips twitched into a miniscule smirk. He shook his head. The glasses were to stay.

Tenten sighed, irritated – only to remember that she was very, very naked when she noticed Shino's own bared torso. His body was toned and lean, perfectly pale and dotted with a few scars. When Tenten ran her hands down his chest, she could feel the excited hum of the kikkai beneath his flesh.

Her eyes widened as she saw his hands fly to his pants and began to undo them. She pressed herself back against the fridge, unsure of what to do. Pushing the trousers past his hips, Shino watched her with satisfaction as she licked her lips, eyes fixed on his hardness.

Tenten wished she wasn't a virgin. She really wished that.

His rough hands slipped behind her to clutch at her ass. Gripping her rear tightly, he hoisted her up and her legs instinctively wrapped around his waist. Tenten's hands gripped the muscled shoulders tightly, slipping slightly from the sweat that had built on them.

Shino rolled his hips forwards.

Tenten couldn't help yelling when he stretched her. She could tell from the look on his face that he felt sorry for causing her pain, but he was too far gone already. He hissed his pleasure against her neck, inhaling the scent of her hair as he thrust into her. He nipped at her jaw. She nuzzled against his forehead. His hands guided her hips on him, moving her up and down his length. Her hands flattened against his nipples.

Tenten gasped as his pace picked up, his hands gripping her hard enough to bruise. She slid up and down the fridge with his movements, and she was sure that his dark eyes were watching the way her breasts bounced with every forceful thrust. Sweat slicked her back and tried to stick her to the fridge. It matted her bangs to her forehead and gathered in her clavicle for him to lick and suckle.

He slammed in and out of her with ease. She felt the tingles of growing pleasure beginning to consume her, and she let out a strangled moan and arched her neck. Shino groaned, and something in his voice made her tenderly flatten her palm against his cheek.

Shino pressed his mouth to hers, their heavy breathing interrupting the kiss and breaking it into several small heated ones as his thrusting slowed down to deep rocking.

Maybe this never would have happened if it hadn't been spring and he hadn't been an Aburame.

It didn't mean it wasn't right.

As Tenten came, she wondered why her. Why not someone like Sakura or even his teammate, Hinata?

Shino moved a few more times and stilled, his whole body quivering and relaxing as though he'd just been released from torture.

He set her down, pulling out of her and leaning his forehead against the fridge. He breathed in deeply, his arms shaking. Tenten watched him. There was always a chance that the kikkai had made this happen. That Shino hadn't wanted this.

The thought made her flinch.

"You will have to meet my father," Shino said suddenly, his voice not showing his body's obvious troubles at all. "Why? Because I should have done so before. It is always the way with potential mates." Even through his sunglasses, she felt him fix her with a very uncompromising look. "I lost control and that is unfortunate."

"M-meet your father?" Tenten felt like it was twisted, how she sat completely naked at her breakfast table and stared at her lover in confusion. "Why?"

Shino's eyebrows drew together. "You are my mate. The clan's head must agree that the pairing is adequate before courtship and marriage can be considered."

"MARRIAGE?"

"Until recently, you have always escaped mating season," Shino said, a mildly accusing note to his voice. "And so this could not happen sooner. But the...kikkai always wanted to choose you."

It was a lot to absorb. And to Tenten's credit, she tried. "Why...why did you run away then? When they started following me?"

"I did not believe you would want to be a part of my clan," he replied simply, as though the poor treatment of his family were something to be discussed over cake and tea. "I felt as though my kikkai were being amorous where it was not wanted. But then they began...to tell me things..."

She knew it. She just knew it. Pest was going to suffer for this.

"...but by then, it was too late. Why? Our mutual pheremones allowed the kikkai to initiate the required frame of mind for...mating." He studied her. "I came here for that reason."

"Yeah," she coughed, going red. She suddenly realised she was naked and covered her breasts. "I realise that."

Shino sat at the table, and reached a tentative hand across to hers. His wonderful fingers and beautiful wrist were large in comparison to hers, and she watched him slowly fold his hand around her own. It didn't escape her attention that one of his fingers traced the lower part of her ring finger.

So he was thinking of marriage already.

Tenten smiled. She wasn't going that far, but she was sure that if the kikkai continued to let them get to know each other...maybe things would work out.

Especially if he got that amorous _every_ mating season.


	4. Daiquiri Daze

_DISCLAIMER: I don't own Naruto, it belongs to Masashi Kishimoto._

_NOTES: This is the sequel to "Cocktail Robots" - written after Rel wanted to see what the 'morning after' would be like. I wanted to make sober, hungover!Shino as cute as drunk!Shino - hopefully I've succeeded. May the Neji bashing continue!_

_A NOTE ABOUT THE STATUS. It will be listed as complete but will be updated whenever a new drabble is uploaded - so please don't think this is it, there's more to come._

_Enjoy, and please review!_

**TITLE:** Daiquiri Daze

**PAIRINGS:** ShinoTen, KibaHina

**RATING:** Teen

**GENRE:** Humour/Romance

* * *

Aburame Shino was not the sort of person who fell into depths of despair and self pity...often. He had had the odd 'where is everybody?' moment of unhappiness, but he tended to be a level-headed spirit. He had never regretted or resented the happenstances life threw at him...often.

Fine. When it came to non-team and mission related topics, he was not the sort of person who fell into depths of despair and self pity, etcetera etcetera.

But when he came to and cracked his eyes open, he wished he were dead and his that his numerous body parts be dismembered and scattered across the Hidden Villages, so that he never had the faintest opportunity to reassemble and feel this way ever again.

"Ungh," he articulated. "Arghhh." He would be appalled at the strange noises he was making later – for now, Shino was merely grateful for the wraparound glasses that kept the devilish daylight away from his sensitive eyes. He rubbed his forehead, brushing loose dark strands back.

Oh dear God, the pain he felt. He felt like his body was rejecting his soul. And its contents.

Shino gagged and tried to bolt upright. His body's inertia and a strange weight kept him pinned, and in his weakened state he simply flopped back onto the bad and covered his mouth with his hand, desperately trying not to throw up on himself.

That awful, awful alcohol. And that awful, awful Inuzuka.

He ordered his kikkai to remove all traces of the alcohol from his system, praying that they would accomplish this before he redecorated his bedroom.

Nothing.

He tried again.

No. The kikkai appeared to be in as bad a condition as himself, except that they were avoiding the burning agony he felt in his brain by being unconscious. Damn them all.

Sickness rose in his throat again, demanding and fast. This time, a very panicked Shino managed to break free of his restraints and dashed for the bathroom. He made an olympic dive for the toilet, reliving the daiquiris in reverse.

They did not taste very good the second time around.

As he gagged and retched, Shino wished his kikkai were well enough to help because he felt very, very bad. His temperature was soaring, even though he appeared to have lost his mesh shirt and jackets at some point.

He groaned and lifted his shades to rub his eyes. Just how much had he consumed? He thought back over last night, trying to pick solid memories out of the strobe of colours and noise. The last thing he seemed to remember was buying Tenten a Tequila Sunrise – then being intrigued by the drink and trying one himself.

_And this was on top of _how many _strawberry daiquiris?_ Shino thought, a little incredulous. It was so unlike him, to indulge in excesses. He almost dreaded –

Tenten. He had bought Tenten a drink.

He clutched the edges of the toilet until his knuckles turned white. He fought to remember whether the alcohol had caused him to embarrass himself in front of her or not. If he had done anything inappropriate to scare away the one woman he had wanted since his young academy days.

This was _awful_. Truly awful.

He had probably ruined all of his chances with her by doing something ridiculous. He had _danced_, had he not? That was borderline inappropriate, considering that he danced like a complete fool.

Shino retched and recycled some more of the night's drinks. He had never, _ever_ felt this ill before. And Kiba was going to pay. Oh yes, Kiba would suffer so badly that he would wish he were dead. And Shino, if he felt generous, would help the Inuzuka in his death bid.

Poor Tenten. Poor himself. If Shino were the type to sink into the depths of despair and self-pity, he could –

Oh, who was he kidding? He was miserable.

Getting shakily to his feet, Shino cleaned his teeth and swilled mouthwash three times before he was satisfied. He caught sight of himself in the mirror above the sink – and his jaw dropped.

On top of an even worse pallor to his skin than usual, written in loopy and clumsy letters across his forehead in black marker was 'SEXY PANTS'.

How on earth did _that_ get there?! Shino leant closer to the mirror, squinting, as though this might make the letters disappear. He then lifted his shades and stared at the letters reflected back at him (backwards). They were definitely there.

With a faint feeling of hysteria, Shino grabbed his flannel and rubbed some soap into it. He scrubbed at his forehead, refusing to be seen in public with such a motif across his face whether his hitae-ate covered it or not.

He wiped off the foam and checked the mirror.

The letters were still there, as bold as before. He tried again. His skin was left angrily red and sore, but SEXY PANTS was still in the building and not going anywhere.

Shino glowered. He had no idea who was responsible for this, but it would ultimately be Kiba who paid.

He left the bathroom, intending on finding his hitae-ate and his jackets so that he could find Kiba and kill him with his bare hands. His kikkai had begun to stir, all disoriented but gradually clearing themselves of their own illness, but Shino wished to deal with this in the most satisfactory way possible – with his fists. And teeth, if necessary.

Shino entered the bedroom – his eyes scouting for his jackets momentarily before landing on the bed.

And going wide.

Huddled up in his sheets, wearing his underjacket and...nothing else, if her bare legs were any indication, was Tenten. Her brown hair was unwound and loose across his pillows, her face relaxed and gentle in sleep.

He stared at her bare legs and experienced a brief short circuiting in his brain.

He was fairly certain that they had not...that they...well, he would have remembered. He could not remember the rest of the evening, but the rest of the evening would not have been such a climactic (literally) moment.

The logical part of Shino's brain supplied the fact that he would have been too drunk to have 'functioned' in such a way, so it was highly likely that they had simply...exchanged clothes, and fallen asleep.

Tenten was there. There on his bed.

Shino flushed. He could not have offended her or been too inappropriate if she was here. In fact...she had probably been the weight that had almost prevented him from reaching the bathroom. She had been sleeping on him – Tenten.

He grinned. He could not help himself – the broad grin stretched over his face and made rarely-used muscles scream and twinge.

This did not mean, of course, that he forgave Kiba at all.

Not having the heart to take his jacket away from Tenten (and also a little worried that she might be naked underneath – if he saw that, nothing would be achieved today) Shino took one of his extra ones from the closet and got ready.

Ensuring that his hitae-ate covered his forehead completely, Shino cast one last longing look at Tenten. She mumbled and rolled over in her sleep, his underjacket riding up her thighs until she was flashing black panties. He had no idea whether to feel relieved that she wasn't flashing more skin or perverted.

She was so very beautiful. That she had stayed here with him had to be a good sign. He only wished he was not so cowardly, and that he could stay here until she awoke. He had other things to deal with, of course, but he was hardly going to fool himself into forgetting that he was worried about her reaction when she awoke.

She shifted, hitching his jacket higher.

Gulping on a suddenly dry throat, Shino pulled himself away from the allure of Tenten's legs and underwear.

If he stayed much longer, he might get a nosebleed. And a dog ninja was waiting to die.

And Shino truly believed this feat possible, until he was thwarted by the full blast of daylight. Not even his sunglasses could save him from the brightness that washed over him when he was outside. He hissed and drew back, glowering up at the sun. Ninja were cheerfully weaving through the streets, throwing greetings back and forth, completely at odds with the agony in Shino's brain.

He would never touch alcohol again. Ever. He would check every single 'smoothie' that was passed to him in future.

As he walked along the streets, testing his kikkai every now and then to try and enervate them, Shino began to feel as though people were staring at him. His forehead was covered, so SEXY PANTS was not attracting unwanted attention. Nothing else appeared to be different about him. He was usually invisible to everyone. He had always been annoyed at just how unnoticable he was, but this new development was irksome and he wished things would go back to how they were.

Why were they staring and pointing?

Shino raised his chin beneath his collar and continued walking, wincing when the new angle made his headache intensify. He tried to ignore the stares and jeers, but he had the terrible feeling that he was missing something. Dread was settling in his stomach like a bad bowl of ramen.

"Oi, Shino!"

Ah, here came the clincher to this strange and rapidly degenerating day.

"Naruto," Shino greeted, hoping that his tone was stiff enough that the obnoxious orange blur of a boy would disappear. The colour was hurting his eyes and he was feeling like he might vomit again.

As usual, Naruto did not know how to pick up on subtle hints. "Oh man, you are so brave to show your face today, believe it!"

Shino suddenly suspected Naruto of the graffiti on his forehead. He narrowed his eyes behind his glasses. "What do you mean?"

Naruto snorted, scratching his blond spikes and winking. "Oh, you know...last night."

"What about last night?" If Naruto was responsible, he could consider himself an engraving on the memorial stone. Immediately.

"You don't..." Naruto's eyes widened, and he began to laugh. "Man, that's great! You don't remember, do you? How much did you DRINK! You must have the hangover of a century. Oh, Granny Tsunade's gonna have a field day with this, believe it!"

The...Hokage? Shino felt cold – then hot with embarrassment he could not explain – and then cold with worry again. "What...?"

"She wants to see you, by the way," Naruto nodded, pointing towards the Hokage tower. "Said I had to find you right away. I was actually just gonna go straight to Ichiraku, but you walked into me and totally saved me the effort of looking for you! Thanks, Shino!"

"Hokage-sama wishes to see me?" Shino's eye twitched behind his shades. "Why did you not mention this before?"

"Good to know you still talk like a weirdo even when hungover, Shino," Naruto cheered. "By the way, did you know that Kiba and Hinata hooked up last night? What's up with that? I had to hear about it from Ino because I was stuck on the toilet most of the night – no idea why, must've been the milk again." He shrugged. "Oh well. Good luck facing the hag, man! I'm off for some ramen, believe it."

Oh to have that kind of energy and effortless stupidity. Shino slumped a little. The dread in his stomach was growing, along with the queasiness that may have been from the alcohol and may have been from worry.

Perhaps the Hokage had a mission for him. Yes, that was it. A mission. While the thought of a mission right now, when he felt like someone was stabbing an ice pick through his eye (and when an underdressed Tenten was lounging on his bed), was anything but nice...he preferred it to the many alternatives flashing through his mind.

With a heavy sigh, Shino walked to the Hokage tower and endured the stares and whispers of the people around him like a guilty man on death row.

* * *

"SHIZUNE! WHERE THE HELL IS MY SAKE?"

How did the Hokage do it, Shino wondered? She imbibed more alcohol in the first few hours of the morning than he had imbibed all of last night, and yet he felt like a mutilated corpse...and Tsunade's attitude actually tended to be improved on the norm. What an anomaly.

Shino stood stoically in front of her desk, waiting to be acknowledged. The blonde woman fussed around drawers and nooks, searching for an elusive bottle of alcohol and growing redder when every hiding spot turned up empty.

He allowed his mind to wander back to Tenten. The way she had looked on his bed. Most of him feared that she would be horrified when she awoke to the odd situation she was in. He still had no idea how she had ended up in his jacket and lost her trousers. Or how she had ended up snuggling him in his bed.

It was almost enough to make him praise the power of alcohol, except that his migraine and the messiness that he now found himself in cancelled out any of the pluses.

"Aburame Shino!" Tsunade barked, snapping him out of his daze. Apparently defeated in her search for sake, the Hokage had now turned her whole intimidating attention on him. He felt very proud of himself that, even when hungover and more than a little twitchy, he did not so much as flinch.

"Yes, Hokage-sama?"

"I'm surprised at you," she sighed, an eyebrow twitching in what could have been speculation or amusement. "You've always seemed to be so serious and mature and – forgive me, but – majorly uptight."

His eyelid flickered.

"So I think this is the only way I can phrase this that sums up the situation fairly well," Tsunade said. She put both arms down on her desk and leant forward, peering at him. "What the fuck happened last night?"

Shino blinked behind his glasses. Tsunade looked genuinely curious, and Shino had no idea what on earth was happening. Feeling under immense pressure all of a sudden, he swallowed and chose his words carefully. "I...do not know what you mean, Hokage-sama."

Tsunade gave him a once-over that made him flush behind his collar. "You're not stupid – you know what I'm talking about." She paused. "Unless...have you ever been drunk before, Shino?"

He shook his head, not trusting his voice.

"So last night was the first time you've ever been completely off your head, away with the fairies, high with the kites?"

Mildly confused, he nodded.

"And am I right in guessing that you don't remember a thing, and therefore have no idea what the hell you're doing in my office?"

Somewhat relieved that she was understanding the situation, Shino nodded. But his spine was still so straight with worry that it was stiff, and his shoulder blades were aching.

"You caused a lot of trouble last night, Shino," Tsunade said, and there was definite amusement in her tone this time. "And enough people have mentioned it that I felt the need to call you here today. It makes things a bit difficult that you don't remember, but..." she smirked. "That just gives me the chance to remind you, doesn't it?"

_Oh, lord._ Shino closed his eyes and counted backwards from ten. When he opened them, all would be right with the world.

When he opened his eyes, Tsunade was still there, smirking at him. _Damn_.

"Let's see, starting from the beginning of the chronology I've been able to roughly work up. Numerous witnesses at the Coco Cabana cocktail bar heard you speaking to Hyuuga Neji in a threatening way, including saying that you 'would have to ask him to suck your balls'."

Ah. _That_ Shino remembered. He had to bite back his smirk, too, because he was rather proud of that one.

Unfortunately for him, Tsunade seemed to sense his amusement and cocked a brow at him before proceeding. "You upset the bar owners by throwing up in a potted plant and then challenging several men to battles to the death for looking at Tenten of Team Gai."

Now that she mentioned it, Shino could vaguely remembering challenging several men to fight with the confidence that he would sweep the floor with them. Had Tenten been the reason for that, then? Not surprising, really.

"It was at this point that several people, including Inuzuka Hana, attempted to escort you off of the premesis – at which point you mistook her for Kiba and attempted to trap her in a headlock."

Oh. Dear. Lord.

"You allowed your kikkai to follow Hyuuga Neji and assault him all night. Even after he confronted you and you _threw up on him_ – "

Shino was torn between amusement, embarrassment and horror at this. He was morbidly curious as to just how much vomit his body could apparently contain.

" – your bugs continued to harass him all night until he was forced to take refuge with ANBU. They attacked everyone who got in their way, and some of the weaker people had to go to the hospital." Tsunade leant back in her chair and steepled her fingers. "It was after this that you and young Tenten disappeared, but there were several reports of young women being harrassed by bugs. Most of them looked like Neji, coincidentally. Or not." She shook her head. "I just don't know, Shino. Even I didn't get this badly shitfaced the first time I drank too much."

How was he ever going to be able to face people after this? How would he face his father and his respectable clan after being so shameful in public?

"I apologise, Hokage-sama," he said humbly. "I have no excuse, only the assurance that Inuzuka Kiba will die painfully for this."

Tsunade raised both brows. "Ahh. I suspected you wouldn't get drunk voluntarily. It's not your style." She sighed. "Enough people were pissed off by your antics that it was brought to my attention, and this means consequences have to be dealt out. The question is – what to do?"

Shino lowered his head. He could not believe this was happening. It was awful. _Awful_.

"Given that this is completely out of character for you, and I can imagine that there were mitigating circumstances," Tsunade said, "I'm going to go easy on you. You will do the D-Rank farm mission that's making even all of my jounin shudder. Think of it as repentance and dear lord boy, learn to hold your liquor."

Shino flushed, his eyes wide. "Is...is that all, Hokage-sama?" Was she truly going to let him off so lightly?

"You want more?" Tsunade said, narrowing her eyes.

Shino shook his head, sighing. "I merely..."

"Oh," the Hokage smirked. "And allow me to congratulate you on getting the girl, Aburame. It's about time. You should thank that friend of yours before you kill him – I bet that without the alcohol, you wouldn't have had the balls to make a move on her. Dismissed."

In a state of complete confusion, Shino ambled out of the office and stared at the wall.

Nothing was going to make sense today. He just knew it.

Shino returned to his private apartment at the Aburame compound, sincerely grateful for the fact that his father had had the foresight to let him have his privacy and independence. He would hate to have to explain away his actions from last night (shameful, even though he could not remember them) and the almost-naked girl he had left on his –

Tenten! Shino paused outside his door. Worry blossomed within him. He still had to deal with Tenten.

Swallowing, he pushed open his door and stepped inside.

"About time!" Tenten said. She was sitting on the loveseat under his window, clutching a cup of green tea and – thankfully – wearing trousers. She was still, however, huddled in his underjacket and her hair hung over her shoulders in loose brown waves. "I was beginning to think you'd abandoned me."

Shino coughed lightly. His body was feeling hot again, but this time it had little to do with the alcohol. His kikkai began to wake up and hum knowingly underneath his skin. "I had to see the Hokage about...last night."

Tenten laughed, and Shino realised with more than a little envy that she had obviously retained all memories. "Ahhh, yes. You know...you're a cute drunk, Shino."

His breath was knocked out of his body. Shino stared at her and said the most eloquent thing he could.

"Unngh?"

Tenten grinned and shook her head. She put her tea down and stood up to stand directly opposite him. She smelled like him, Shino realised with a flash of pleasure. The possessiveness it encouraged was frighteningly strong. "In case you don't remember what I said last night – and I'm guessing from your expression that you don't...I'm gonna say it again."

She flushed a little.

The pause was so tense that Shino almost went mad.

"I really like you," Tenten smiled. "I've been interested in you for a while but...I didn't realise how much I _like_ you until last night. I think I'd like to know you more."

Could it be possible? Could Shino's Worst Day be turning out for the better? Even that D-Rank mission would be worth it if he had captured the interest of his childhood sweetheart. He would wade through the cowpat and be delighted if it meant that he could spend just a little time with Tenten and actually remember it.

"Just..." she said "...try not to throw up this time, eh?"

He sighed.


	5. Never Let Me Go

_DISCLAIMER: I don't own Naruto, it belongs to Masashi Kishimoto._

_NOTES: This is a standout 'drabble' (my 'drabbles' aren't really drabbles, I guess, I just call them that because I like the word lol) so far because it's a serious one, as opposed to the others. With this one I've expanded the potential genres of this collection - unfortunately, I can mark them all up in the drop-down selector, so I'll have to warn everyone before each drabble in the designated chapter._

_Title comes from a book I saw when I was working at Waterstones - it's an invoking title, and I couldn't forget it._

_A NOTE ABOUT THE STATUS. It will be listed as complete but will be updated whenever a new drabble is uploaded - so please don't think this is it, there's more to come._

_Enjoy, and please review!_

**TITLE:** Never Let Me Go

**PAIRINGS:** ShinoTen, Neji/?

**RATING:** Teen

**GENRE:** Romance/Angst/Hurt-comfort

* * *

I compare them in my head – I shouldn't compare them. It's like comparing chalk and cheese and saying that one of them tastes funny. It's stupid and pointless and _childish_ but I do it anyway. And I probably do it because the dreams you hold onto for the longest time are the ones you never want to let go. And you never want the dreams to let you go.

Never let me go.

I compared them that night, when the Aburame clan hosted a festival. I went – I was curious – I went and I drank and I danced until I made a fool of myself. I got blisters on my feet because of those stupid shoes and my hair came undone. I laughed until my throat hurt and drank too much punch.

And then I went outside, and I saw them dancing.

No one else around, no one else on the lawn. Nothing there but streamers and lanterns to see them swaying across the grass to slow music only they could hear. I didn't know who she was, and I didn't really want to know. Well, I did – but in the way that someone wants to know the name of the shinobi that killed their family. You know?

I wanted to know the name of the one who was better than me. The one he wanted, who wasn't me.

I always knew he never wanted me. But for as long as people could call him gay, or asexual, or celibate for reasons unknown...I could pretend. Pretend that he'd come round. That it wasn't that it was a problem with _me_, but a problem with _him_.

A stood under the shade of a tree, unnoticed, with my hair in messy tails over my shoulders and the punch flushing my face. I stood there and I stared.

They were dancing, turning and turning, his lips almost pressed against her forehead, never letting her go.

Never let me go.

And then _he_ was there, in his traditional kimono with those silly sunglasses. I saw those men as the same, at that time, only one of them was attractive and the other one...he only existed every now and then, whenever he came into my line of vision. That's the power of being blinded by other people, of being shallow. The people who deserve to be seen are the ones who don't try to be seen. They slip under the radar.

He stood next to me and watched them rotate across his lawn. I wanted him to be surprised. The drunk part of me wanted him to be appalled on my behalf – to put an arm around me, even though I would probably try and reject it out of pride.

Maybe I show my feelings too clearly on my face sometimes.

"You are jealous?"

When someone hits you – BAM – with your feelings, boiled down to simple and shameful words, it's kinda rough. I felt like he'd punched me, like he'd belittled me. Whether he intended to do that or whether he didn't realise what impact he'd had, he stared at me. I knew he was staring at me even if I couldn't see it. He stared at me and he waited as if my answer was the most interesting thing in the world and it killed me to realise that I had to disappoint him.

I couldn't answer him.

"No," he said, and I laughed when I realised that – as usual – he was answering his own questions. He ignored my outburst. "I think that perhaps you are having trouble letting go."

Never let me go.

"You lost your enchantment for the Hyuuga a long time ago," he said, in this matter-of-fact way that made me flinch. It was like he was batting away all of my lies and my barriers, laying the truth out before me and saying 'eat it'. "Is it that you have difficulty throwing away the dreams you have kept for so long? I know that for some people their oldest hopes have become part of the frame their lives are built upon."

He has this stupid way of talking sometimes. I like it, don't get me wrong – but it's so formal and waspish at the same time. As though everything his says is said for the most impact. He takes more care over his words than Neji – not that Neji's careless. But...Neji lacks that perfect control. That perfect _intent_ that makes everything as it should be.

I didn't know what to say to him at the time. I've never had someone lay things down like that until him. Maybe other people thought it, if they ever bothered to look. But no one came to me. No one told me. Just him.

"I look at him with new eyes," I admitted, embarrassed. I rubbed my arms, bared by the short-sleeved cheongsam, and avoided his eyes. I looked directly at the dancing couple and felt a twinge. "It's like he's different, or I'm different – everything's different. I don't know how to deal with that, you know? It's like something was a lie, and I don't know how to replace it with something real."

He nodded – I think maybe his acceptance changed something in me. I think maybe it was there that I started to notice him – to listen to him. See him. It never occurred to me to question why he was next to me, watching the silent couple move around his lawn. Maybe it was because of the punch – maybe if I was completely sober, his presence would have freaked me out with its randomness as it usually did. He never had good reason to be near me, really, so it always made me jump when he was.

I think maybe he wanted to be near someone, too. But he's kind of hard to read, so I don't know.

"Sometimes," he said, "people are too ashamed to admit that their perspectives have changed suddenly. Why? It seems inconsistent, fickle. And yet it is difficult to continue to act as though the old perspective exists when everything has shifted."

Shifted is right. It's like everything has rotated to a new angle. Everything has reversed. The things that you liked are now the things you hate. The things you used to tolerate because that's the right thing to do...they're now the hardest things in the world to bear. You don't know how to spend time with that person anymore – how to laugh at their jokes and listen to their words. Join in with their conversation, sit next to them.

You don't know how you ever liked them so much to begin with.

"I feel like it's me – like it's me who's changed, and I've done it for no reason," I said. "Like I've turned my back on something because I'm selfish and horrible. I can't see things the way I did before and it's scary, that someone can change that much."

"It is necessary for someone to change that much," he replied, and he looked kind of like he was trying to tell me something important – something I would never have gotten then, and maybe wouldn't now. "When your world changes its colours, it is best to simply adjust to it."

He wasn't talking about Fate, like Neji does. He's not that uptight, believe it or not. He doesn't really believe in fate, and I think that's because he's had a pretty raw deal. People don't treat him very well, and I can understand why that would make him so adverse to believing in fate. Fate seems to imply that there's someone out there who decides things about you before you can prove yourself, before you can make any decisions of your own.

Maybe if your life was peachy and wrapped in gold you could happily believe in Fate. Or if you liked to whine and make excuses, like Neji. But if things are tough...it's hard to wonder what kind of person is doing this to you – for whose reasons is this your fate.

"Will this keep on happening? This change?"

"It happens every time that we grow," he said. "It happens every time that there is something we must let go."

Never let me go.

Is every moment of our lives built into us before we're born? Was I fated to watch Neji dance with that girl, and realise that he was nothing special? And was I fated to look at Shino and see colours that were different to before? Does being fated mean that I don't have to take responsibility for the things I do?

Should I just let the tide carry me and see what happens, or should I row to wherever I want to go and see what happens?

Shino's offered hand was the shore – the golden, warm shore. And I felt like I was cresting a wave, crashing down when I took it and let him lead me in a soft rotation parallel to the couple down the lawn. His shoulder was warm when I rested my chin on it, his hands firm at my waist.

I didn't know if it was because of me or because it was _Shino_. All I knew was that I wanted this moment, and I wanted it to never let me go.


	6. Honey Trap

_DISCLAIMER: I don't own Naruto, it belongs to Masashi Kishimoto._

_NOTES: Another lemon! I'm on a roll. This was written for Rel, in exchange for her fabulous ShikaIno AMV at YouTube. It's very long, and I've given up on calling my pieces drabbles since they're clearly not but...enjoy!_

_A NOTE ABOUT THE STATUS. It will be listed as complete but will be updated whenever a new drabble is uploaded - so please don't think this is it, there's more to come._

_Enjoy, and please review!_

**TITLE:** Honey Trap

**PAIRINGS:** ShinoTen, mild GaaSaku, ShikaIno, KibaHina and KankuHina

**RATING:** Mature

**GENRE:** Humour/Romance

* * *

How did this happen?

Well, stupid question. Tenten was fully aware of how this happened. She just wasn't sure how it happened to _her_.

She'd been expecting a fairly uneventful night – it was the first night in five months that she and her lady friends would all be free of missions and ready for a get-together. Tenten had figured there'd be a few bottles of sake, some chocolate, and lots of gossiping.

She'd been right – at first.

And then Ino had had the _wonderful_ idea of drawing up 'sexability' stats for male ninja. It had seemed funny at the time – Tenten was beginning to realise that lots of things seem funny _at first_, when sake's clogging your brain and your rationality.

It had been pretty funny when Ino had been forced to rate Shikamaru quite highly, even over Genma, who Ino had been flirting with. Not that anyone had been fooled at her attempts to inspire a bit of good old fashioned jealousy, but it had been a relevation nonetheless.

Sakura's generous ratings towards the Kazekage had been intriguing. She'd thought – since they'd all had more than a little sake by that time – her assessment would slip under the radar, but Ino was far too good at latching on to the things no one wanted noticed.

Not even Tenten had expected Sakura to admit spending a night in the Kazekage's bed.

Kiba and Kankurou had both been pretty neck and neck in the debates, until Hinata had delivered the crushing blow and given Kiba better ranking by a hair's breadth. Tenten couldn't decide which would have been a better pairing, though she knew Kiba had been jonesing for Hinata forever.

It had been funny.

Until Ino realised that no one could offer up any stats on the elusive Aburame Shino.

Tenten closed her eyes and shook her head. If she'd been a little more sober at the time, she might have excused herself for a bathroom break or left to feed a cat that didn't actually exist. The look in Ino's brilliant blue eyes had clearly been the 'I'm plotting and you're not gonna like it' variety.

But she'd been pinned in place by the pleasant afterglow of all the laughter and alcohol. She'd been nibbling some chocolate and 'mmmm'ing her own awe at Shino's ability to be so mysterious and overdressed and _weird_ when Ino had whirled on her, a big grin on the pretty blond's face.

"Since you're so 'agreeable'," Ino had said, "_you_ should be the one who goes and finds out just what numbers to put in this little table." She held up a piece of paper with something on it that barely constituted being called a table.

Tenten's jaw dropped and the bit of chocolate fell from her fingers to the floor. "What?"

"It's night time," Sakura supplied, "So you could sneak up to the Aburame complex, peek at his face, and – "

"No way, sister, I wanna know _everything_!" Ino whined, waving the table around. "This table demands it!"

"Th-there's no way that Tenten would b-be able to find out that much," Hinata offered, her cheeks red with tipsiness. She didn't seem bothered that the women were suggesting spying on her teammate. "And Shino-kun is a v-very cautious person."

Ino huffed, flopping over the table and almost knocking an ochoko of sake over. "Fine, fine. Just his face." She gave Tenten what was meant to be a menacing look, but her eyes crossed a little. "You better get some solid stats – and descriptions. I wanna know what that guy looks like and I wanna know _why _he looks that way."

Everyone looked at her. "That doesn't even make any sense, what you just said," Sakura deadpanned.

Tenten had barely protested. In fact, she'd almost been _cheerful_ as she left Ino's place and ambled through Konoha towards the Aburame complex.

But now that she was there, and the cool night air had given sobriety a boost up, Tenten was beginning to protest _very_ much.

She didn't know much about Shino – had barely said two words to him in the past, and even that had been for the sake of missions rather than of her own volition. But if there was one thing she did know, it was that Shino was no small fry and his skills could be terrifying, especially if you weren't particularly good at stealth when you were planning on sneaking up on him.

Damn sake.

Tenten stood on wobbly legs on the windowsill outside of the room she had fathomed to be Shino's. She took a deep breath of the crisp night air and studied the twinkling night lights of Konoha from her vantage point.

She was risking a lot, doing this. If Shino discovered her and took complete offence, she could be arrested...stripped of her ninja title. It could be hugely detrimental.

And selfish reasons aside – wasn't it wrong, to invade someone's personal space? If Shino wanted to go around looking like a walking tarpaulin, who was she – or Ino, for that matter – to argue with him?

Tenten took a deep breath. The worst thing was, she knew she was going to do this...and she knew that it had nothing to do with the remaining alcohol in her system. It was to assauge her own stupid curiosity. She'd ranked the other guys along with the girls, and had been equally dismayed and intrigued when they'd reached Shino's name.

She'd always wondered what he looked like.

Tenten shook her head. She took a deep breath and allowed her kunoichi instincts to take over.

She'd already bypassed most of the Aburame clan's basic traps to catch trespassers. She'd made an entrance that had impressed even herself, and had found her way through without too much difficulty. Now that she was here, she couldn't sense anything barring the way between her and the sleeping ninja in the room.

The window was unlocked and Tenten eased it open, a little vaseline on the hinges preventing any unwanted noises. She slipped into the room on light feet, her toes brushing over the high quality tatami flooring.

She hesitated inside the room – looking around. She could smell something distinctly Shino about the room. Something cinnamon and pine, so subtle that it was only hinted. The room, which she'd have guessed would be spartan, was anything but. While modest in decoration, every part of it was traditional and beautifully hued in earth tones – appearing blue in the night's light.

Tenten looked at the futon on the floor, and raised her eyebrows.

Even in sleep, the young Aburame kept his goggles on. She could see the light glinting off of them and touching his pale skin.

She swallowed. Shino was shirtless. She could see the lean, compact taper of his arms as they lay on top of his chest over the coverlet. His shoulders were broad, seeming squared even in his sleep as he lay on his back.

Without his hitae-ate, his spiky-brush hair lay in haphazard directions. His expression was smooth, no frown lines anywhere.

Tenten couldn't help but notice how plump and soft his lips looked.

She shook her head. The sake was really messing with her brain.

_I just need to lift up those glasses to get a peep at his eyes_, she thought. _No problem_.

Easier said than done, and she knew it.

Tenten approached the futon quickly and quietly, kneeling by the side with growing trepidation. She held her breath, waiting for the swarm of bugs that would indicate a very angry and insulted Shino. And then she held her breath because, well...

What she could see of Shino's face was classically _gorgeous_.

She used classical in the sense that his face wasn't unique, wasn't extreme in its looks...its composition was just right, and very flawless. He had a thin, straight nose and high cheekbones. His brows were arched and somewhat Slavic.

_His eyes must be incredible_, Tenten thought, heat flushing through her body.

She sighed. Time for the crunch, and she'd dawdled enough already.

She leaned forward on her heels, reached out with careful hands. His breathing was soft and even, lazy with sleep. She was distracted by the rise and fall of what she could see of his bare chest. She almost poked him in the cheek and bit her lip. Her fingers brushed against the straps at the sides of his goggles. She curled her fingers under, hoping to lift the stretchy material away and up from his face. She pulled –

Hands snapped up and grabbed her wrists. Tenten cried out, yanked forcefully on top of the form of a very much awake Aburame Shino. His expression had settled into the careful frown he usually toted, and through the coverlet and his skin she could feel the excited buzz of thousands of kikkai.

She stared at his goggles, horrified and embarrassed. She had been caught. This was it – the end.

"Tenten," Shino murmured, an eyebrow raising. His voice was clear, without an ounce of sleep dragging the syllables down. "What are you doing in my bedroom?"

She made a faint whimpering sound and wondered what possible answer she could give. Every single one that came into her head seemed more incriminating and humiliating than the last.

In the end, Tenten settled for saying nothing.

"What are you doing in my bedroom?" Shino repeated, his hands tightening on her wrists. Tenten was hyper aware of her body on top of his, the warmth from his form and the bare skin inches away from her face.

"I was...in the neighbourhood? UMF!" She yelped as he flipped her over onto her back. The warmth of the soft sheets might have been some sort of comfort, if Shino hadn't had her wrists in a death grip. He straddled her form and looked down her, his face carefully set into boredom but the suddenly audible buzzing of his kikkai telling her that he was anything but.

"You will answer any question I wish to ask," he said, "or I will be forced to turn you over to the authorities for trespassing. What are you doing in my bedroom?"

Tenten's mind froze first at the idea that yes, this might be the thing that would break her back as a kunoichi. And then she realised that it wasn't only Shino's upper half that was bare. Her eyes strayed downwards and flew wide.

He was straddling her...like that?! Like that!

Her brain went into meltdown.

He was definitely getting good ratings for _that_.

"N-no cl...clothes," Tenten grunted out, her cheeks flaming and more than a little excitement prickling within her.

Shino looked down, his lips parting as though in question. He stared. "...ah."

Tenten licked her lips, praying her appreciation wasn't too obvious. It probably wouldn't help her in this situation. "Um...could you m-maybe put some clothes on? I'd feel l-less awkward when answering your quest – "

"On the contrary." Shino shifted above her, effectively _grinding_ into her stomach, and he raised both brows at her loud groan. "Disconcertion as a wonderful tool in...interrogation. My lack of dress may be imperative to my line of questioning. As such..." he did something – _flexed_, or something, and the muscles of his torso were delineated in a way that made her mouth run dry. "Tell me what you are doing here."

Tenten was strong. She could withstand this. It would be easy.

"Ino," she blurted, and winced. Her eyes slipped shut in shame. She was so, so easy. In a weak tone, she outlined Ino's table and their drunken decision to 'scout Shino's talent', as Sakura had so wonderfully phrased it.

Shino remained still and silent. After she finished, she held her breath and waited for something. A reprimand, an explosion – _something_.

Shino lowered his head. "And your assessment?"

Tenten started, gaping at him.

"My 'stats', as you say?" He asked lowly.

She wished she could see his eyes. He was impossible to read – without being able to read him, she couldn't make a decision best suited to saving her skin. She gulped, shifting nervously and gasping when she remembered that a naked man was directly above her. "I...I haven't seen enough."

"I am naked," Shino said, and there was definitely a wry note to his deep voice. "What more is there to see?"

"Your face," Tenten blurted, trying not to focus on his nakedness too much. "Your eyes."

"Are they so important?" He asked, gathering both of her small wrists up in one hand and using the other one to unpin her buns so that her dark hair spilled over his pillow. She stared up at him with wide eyes, wondering whether she should try to escape.

She was sure she wouldn't be able to, even if she wanted to.

"Y-yes."

"To the assessment?"

Tenten paused. "Yes."

His lips twitched. "I see. Since they are so...important, perhaps we should settle for quid pro quo. You have me at a disadvantage." He looked down again, and Tenten had to jam her eyelids shut to stop from following his gaze. "If you wish to see all of my face...you should at the very least remove your shirt."

"No way," Tenten gasped. She hadn't taken her shirt off for _anybody_, why would she do it for a stupid statistic survey of Ino's? Never mind that she was ridiculously attracted to the bug master right now, and never mind that the part of her mind still controlled by copious amounts of sake was telling her that it was a _fabulous_ idea.

Shino hesitated, and then sat back against her stomach, looking both disappointed and amused at the same time, without once cracking an expression. "Perhaps that is a good thing. I myself would rate you at two point five...perhaps three on a good day. I do not need to see more."

Anger shot to Tenten's head like a tagged kunai. She glared at Shino. "Ex_cuse_ me?"

He watched her.

Tenten sat up, shaking her wrists free of his hand. Her hair spilled over her shoulders and Shino shiftled back to straddle the tops of her thighs as Tenten tore at the togs on front of her mandarin collar shirt. Her disbelief and pride had wiped away the last of her rationality. "Two point five? _Two point five?!_" She whipped the shirt off and flung it away, pointing at her pink lacy bra. "Do these look like a _two point five_ to you, huh?!"

Shino tilted his head consideringly. His cheeks had tinged faintly pink, and his lips parted. Tenten felt a swell of pride – if she'd managed to get a visible reaction from _Shino_, of all people, that had to mean something.

The ninja's hand closed around one of her breasts, testing the weight and gently squeezing the soft mound. "Perhaps more. However, these do not make – "

Somehow unaware that she was being fondled, Tenten struggled out of her pants, with Shino raising himself off of her legs long enough for her to shuck the irritating material clean off. "And this!" She hissed, incensed. "Now, I KNOW this ass is at least a four point five!"

Shino, hand still cupping her breast, stared down at the delicately curved hips and matching panties, his mouth open.

"Don't tell me that – UMPFFF!" Tenten yelped as Shino pushed her down onto her back – and as she bounced against the futon's sheets, something suddenly clicked in her mind. "Wait – were you...?"

"Why complicate matters with words?" The air left Tenten's lungs as Shino nudged her legs apart and settled between them, the bare skin of his torso touching her own and brushing the lace of her bra. Her eyes were wide as his face lowered to inches away from her own. "Be silent and allow me to continue my own assessment."

She was sure that the assessments she and the girls had been doing hadn't included any kind of touching, but Shino apparently did things a different way. His fingers traced over her skin in searching patterns, and the concentration on his face seemed to suggest that he was committing every scar and mark to memory.

Heat pooled in her stomach. She could feel him against her – everywhere. Her mind was struggling to keep up with everything that was happening, and who it was happening with. _I'm in my underwear in Shino's bed. How the hell did that happen?_ She thought with mild hysteria.

Shino paused, and tilted his head up. "You trespassed. There were questions that needed to be answered."

Tenten grimaced. "...did I say that out loud?"

"Yes." Shino's simple tone and casual brush-off of her embarrassment made Tenten want to shrivel up and disappear. His hands were once again brushing over her skin, lighting fires underneath her skin and turning her on way more than he should. "And technically, you soon will not be in your underwear in my bed. Why? I will be removing them."

She blinked the fuzz out of her head. "Wait – what?"

Shino's hand had already forced its way under her back and unsnapped her bra. Tenten yelped and wrapped her arms around her chest, fighting to keep the pink material in place one way or another. Shino sighed. "You do realise, of course, that under Konoha's laws you have broken and entered a clan building. You have trespassed, and...should I say so...you have 'caused offence' and attempted 'sexual harrassment'."

Tenten's jaw dropped. "WHAT?"

"As such," Shino continued, unfazed, "under Konoha's laws I am entitled to interrogate you however I wish, so long as I neither kill nor permentantly injure you." He pried her arms away from her chest and flung the bra away without preamble. His fingers traced their curves and the hardened nipples.

Tenten could feel her world crumbling underneath her. She didn't know whether she wanted to run away or stick around to see if his touch was really as sexual as it seemed. She swallowed. "W-well...if you go as f-far as you seem to want to go, you would be permenantly breaking a part of me..."

He stopped his movements. For a moment, she wondered if she had offended him with her words – if she'd misread everything. The thought sent irrational panic tumbling through her.

But then she felt..._part of him_...definitely responding to her words, and her pulse picked up threefold.

"You are a virgin?" Shino asked, and his voice was thick. There was a rich and strangely emotional quality to it that, while she'd never be able to read the emotions there, put her at ease somehow. "That is...pleasing."

She flushed. "Not that it should matter to you." Why would it? Surely in some strange way Shino was just teaching her a lesson. He wouldn't actually care if...

He frowned – a fully-fledged, unrepressed frown. "Be silent. I have not finished interrogating you." She gave a disbelieving cry. "Do not force me to gag you."

Tenten blinked at him. "You wouldn't." The face he turned to her was calm and stoney. "Okay...shutting up now."

She shouldn't be turned on by his aggression. Shouldn't want him.

And yet the slickness that was gathering on her inner thighs told another story.

"You should realise that I am going for a far more preferable form of interrogation," Shino said, his voice husky. Tenten wondered if he realised just how excited he'd made her. "You catch more flies with honey than vinegar, after all..."

Sparks zinged through her as his lips brushed the sensitive spot below her ear. She whimpered as he trailed them along her jawline and down her neck. She arched into the touch, gulping when she felt his lips kiss the dip of her clavicle. "C-catch many flies this – ooooooooh! – way?"

His voice rumbled against her throat. "You are the first."

Her heart slammed painfully.

"You will answer me truthfully," he said. "How does this feel?"

His fingers drew tickling paths up the insides of her thighs. Tenten gasped. "I-it...tickles."

"Is it good?"

She closed her eyes.

Shino lightly pinched the skin and she hissed. "Is it good?"

"Yes!"

One hand went straight for gold – Tenten purred and whined when he tore her panties off and parted her, his thumb finding the sweet spot and rubbing against her. "This?"

"Unnnhhh..."

Shino smirked. "I see." He paused. "If I were to take you now...would I really be the first?"

Tenten writhed against his touch, feeling the delicious burn starting up in her core. His words were blunt enough to cut through her mind, but also intent enough to increase the pressure building in her lower belly. "Y-yes..."

He nodded, more to himself than her. "Before this night...have you ever entertained thoughts of me that were in any way sexual?"

Tenten gulped. He increased the pressure against her bundle of nerves and her legs twitched. "N-no."

He stopped. Tenten keened, missing the contact. At first, her throat tightened – she'd upset him. She hadn't wanted that. She really hadn't.

Then a small smirk stretched Shino's lips. "There are certain ways to tell when a person is lying, Tenten...they look towards the right. They blink rapidly and often. They sweat. They lick their lips. Their heartbeat accelerates. You...have just done all of the above."

Tenten's mouth went dry. Oops.

"It is not wise, to lie during an interrogation." A finger slipped inside her passage, and Tenten mewled her surprise. "Before this night, have you ever entertained thoughts of me that were in any way sexual?"

"Yes!" She gasped.

"Tell me."

Tenten closed her eyes. She wasn't thinking very clearly anymore. She felt like a puppet, masterfully manipulated with chakra strings. "D-during the chuunin exams...after you fought Zaku...I imagined you catching my eye and following me out of the arena, into the bathrooms..."

"...continue."

"You got me to...I mean I...I...your..." Embarrassment hit her at the same time as a fresh ebb of moisture, helping Shino's finger slip in and out of her much easier.

"I see."

She gulped and turned her face to the side. Her cheeks burned with her shame and her arousal, her hips rocking into his hand. Her legs tightened on his waist.

"...did you swallow?"

Her eyes flew open and she looked at him. The coil in her stomach tightened a little bit more. "Oh god, look, I don't - "

"You are being interrogated," Shino growled. He was starting to sound short of breath. Sweat was gathering over his body in a fine sheen, some strands of hair clinging to his forehead. "Did. You. Swallow?"

She whined. "...you told me to."

He smirked. "Did telling me that arouse you?"

Tenten flushed. Surely he could feel...his fingers were...? "Yes," she breathed, knowing that he played a tough ballgame.

"Do you want me?"

There was an edge of something more than the norm to his voice. It told her that something more was happening than just Shino developing a smug, dominant sexual fetish.

She had the feeling that this meant more to him than just proving a point or getting his rocks off.

"Yes," she admitted, amazed to find out just how sincere she was about that.

He regarded her silently. Then, "I hope you will be willing to say that...much louder." He removed his fingers from her, and Tenten groaned her frustration.

His lips covered hers firmly, the insistence behind them distracting her. She returned the kiss, tasting his tongue and welcoming him into her mouth at the same time as he pushed into her body.

They moved slowly, languidly – both adjusting to the sensation of being joined to another. There was no pain for Tenten – her life as a kunoichi gifted her that. There was only the sting of being stretched, and the painful pleasure of the friction inside her as Shino gradually moved more and more forcefully within her.

Touches and kisses were fluttered over skin like butterfly wings, sweat making their bodies slide together. The strong pump of Shino's hips drove her closer and closer, the soft growls close to her ear making her lose it just a little bit more.

"Tell me again," Shino gasped out, grasping her hips and pushing into her.

Tenten's voice started out low, tremulous. As her release built, so did her volume, until her want for Shino was being shouted into the night as she rode out a stinging orgasm that made her limbs shake and twitch. Shino tensed above her, his face tightening as he rocked into her a few times more and collapsed on top of her.

Sweat stuck their skin together, heat and stickiness swamping them and the futon. The sex drugged Tenten more than the sake had, and she dazedly ran her fingers over Shino's sides as she tried to remember exactly how she had reached this point.

"You will stay here," Shino finally rasped, his lips grazing the side of her neck. "I may wish to interrogate you again in a few hours."

Tenten chuckled.

"And," Shino said, his voice tired, "I hope you intended to make this a public and lasting relationship...since you were rather loud, and my father is across the hall."

She groaned and covered her eyes with an arm.

"I would not be surprised if most of Konoha heard you," Shino continued, sounding rather proud of this fact. "At least it will save you the trip to your friends to alert them of my statistics, yes?"

Tenten sighed. As Shino snorted softly against her neck and began to drift into sleep, she stared at the ceiling and wondered just what she had gotten herself into.

And Shino had never even taken his goggles off.

**

"OI, Tenten!"

The kunoichi groaned and her kunai missed the centre of the target by a milimetre. She looked over her shoulder as Ino, Sakura and Hinata walked over, all three with eager and curious looks on their faces. The sake didn't seem to have affected them a bit, unlike Tenten, who had something of a hangover.

"Well, come on," Ino urged, gesturing with her hand. "Did you get his goggles off?"

Tenten huffed. That was gonna be a sore point with her for a while. If she and Shino really were going to carry on with some sort of relationship, she didn't plan on letting him get away with it. "Not technically...no..."

Ino huffed and rolled her eyes. "Figured you couldn't do it." Both Sakura and Hinata gave Tenten looks that said 'tough breaks' and shrugged. "Okay, okay – just rate the guy on what you _did_ see."

"What I _did_ see?" Tenten mused, flushing. She folded her arms and thought about it. "Tens across the board."

"...the stats only go up to five," Sakura pointed out.

"...I know," Tenten replied.

Ino's jaw dropped. "What did he do to you?"

Tenten was about to deny it – but stopped. Shino had implied that he _wanted_ a public relationship, right? She grinned. "I think it would take less time to talk about what he _didn't_ do to me."

"YOU SLEPT WITH SHINO?" Ino screamed. Hinata and Sakura gaped.

"I do not remember Tenten sleeping."

All three girls froze and slowly turned. The rest of Team Kurenai stood mere feet away. Kurenai looked stunned. Kiba's eyebrow twitched. Shino had his hands in his pockets, observing the quad of girls with a bored air.

"You're...you're getting some?" Kiba choked out.

"You didn't even take your glasses off?" Ino cried.

"You're getting...more than me?" Kiba whined, crestfallen.

"That's it, TAKE 'EM OFF!" Ino growled, folding her arms and glaring at Shino.

"They are not yours for you to see." The Aburame turned his face towards Tenten, who flushed a deep red. "You are wondering about the quid pro quo? When I told you that you catch more flies with honey than vinegar, I never said that the flies get the honey."

That little bastard.

"I will be in the training fields tonight at seven," Shino continued. "If you wish to try and get the honey again, I will be happy to oblige you." He turned and walked away, his shocked and awkward team following him.

Tenten glared after him. If he wanted a challenge, she'd give him a challenge.

She'd get so much damned honey she'd be Winnie the Pooh.


	7. Glory Box

_DISCLAIMER: I don't own Naruto, I just play with the characters._

_**-=THANK YOU FOR OVER 50 REVIEWS!=-**_

_MISC: OMG YOU GUYS! I know I've been silent for a while due to real life, but I just had to update now that you've pushed me over 50 reviews for this collection. Your are all WONDERFUL! _

_Since sexy, dominant!Shino seems to be very popular after the last oneshot, I've revisited him here. I've been meaning to write a stripper!Tenten fic for a while, discussed it with Rel a bunch of times. It's finally here, all for you guys. I really hope you enjoy it, thank you again!_

_Song is "Glory Box" by Portishead (sex in aural form, in my personal opinion)._

_**ALSO:** As a thank you, should they wish, I'm thinking of setting up a kiriban style system. The person who gave the 50th review (that's MyUsedRomance) can give a prompt for the next drabble. _

**TITLE:** Glory Box

**PAIRINGS:** ShinoTen

**RATING:** M

**GENRE:** Romance/Erotica/Slight humour

* * *

Tenten swallowed hard, eyes glittering with her nervousness. It was an effort to keep from shaking, and she wasn't sure if it was because of her feelings or the four-inch stiletto heels she'd had to wear.

Why in the hell did women willingly wear these things? They were like walking on pencils, and felt just as likely to snap. She'd already fallen flat on her face several times, and once again felt seriously grateful that her current team didn't include any Byakugan users, ensuring her reputation and her dignity.

Man. It was as hot as hell was supposed to be. It was almost pitch-black except for an extremely low red hue that made her break out into a cold sweat. She felt like she was in a cheap slasher movie.

The air was stifling – so thick with heat and the scents of sweat, perfume and sex. Her gag reflex tickled, and her red lips were parted in an effort to prevent her nose from having to take in too much stench.

The heavy bass vibrated through the floor, sending little tremors into her calf muscles. The loud music was hardly muted by the curtains in her spot backstage, and she could hear every wail of the guitar and every moan in the singer's voice. If she strained her sore ears enough, she could hear the lewd yells of the patrons. "Get your tits out, love!"

She looked down at herself critically. Were men generally into pigeon-chested girls? Tenten flushed. She'd never been _too _bothered by her lack of, er, bouyancy before – her excuse had always been that anything less than a handful was a waste (which Naruto had once countered with, "You don't even make a handful, believe it!" only to receive a broken nose).

Now, she suddenly wished she had Tsunade's rack. At least she'd have felt a little more confident about the whole seduction thing.

Someone stomped past her, their heels clacking madly and their gaudy pink boa whipping her in the face as they ran towards the stage. Tenten stared after them with wide-eyes, a hand lightly touching her stinging cheek. Her palms were sweating profusely and she tugged her hand away from her face before the moisture could ruin her makeup.

She took careful steps forward. The stilettos stretched the arches of her feet in ways that shinobi sandals never would. Hell – in ways that most torture devices never would. The tiny points of her shoes were so difficult to balance on that she had to cheat and use some chakra to help her, and even then she nearly wobbled several times as she approached the thick, flamingo-pink velvet curtains separating her from the stage.

Long, slender fingers reached out, the painted nails glittering under the dark red lighting. The digits closed around the edge of the velvet, the texture making her shudder involuntarily and reminding her of teeth on wool.

She twitched the curtains apart, flinching as the music got just that little louder. Multi-coloured strobe lights flew around the dark club, and as her wide eyes shifted around what she could see from the tiny gap, she saw the darkly shadowed and smirking faces of men clutching ochoko and fistfuls of ryo.

Sometimes she found herself unbelievably grateful about things in her line of work.

That she wouldn't have to meet any of those men was one of them.

A form moved in front of her, swaying in time to the music. Her eyes grew further when the woman leant against a pole, her naked chest suddenly exposed to the flashing lights of the club. Her skin was orange from too much fake tan, her makeup caked on in thick layers. Her hair was dyed blonde, with little patches of black showing at the roots and all she wore was a tiny aquamarine g-string and a pair of heels that were probably even taller than Tenten's.

She felt indescribably sorry for the woman. Especially when she saw the little needle marks at her elbows when the blonde dropped to her hands and knees and crawled along the bar, men tucking ryo into her g-string and groping her ass.

"Oi."

She jumped, her hand flying away from the curtain and to her chest as though she'd been slapped. Wide brown eyes turned to the pencil-thin man standing before her, his eyes shadowed behind thick glasses. His lips twitched slightly, the greased moustache above them seeming to move on its own.

"…Cho, right?" He grinned, revealing tobacco-stained teeth and alcohol-laced breath. They both knew that wasn't her name.

She swallowed hard, nodding. She tugged awkwardly at the hem of her red see-through dress, hating how it didn't even reach mid-thigh. The red g-string and bra set were on clear view. And though she knew she had to do this…

She felt degraded.

"You're to dance for our patron, Yamamoto-san," the man continued. "I'm aware that this is…a special case. And you must understand that we value discretion here…do you understand me, Cho-san?"

Tenten felt as though the makeup was melting off of her face. She wanted nothing more than to kick off her stilettos and run away – hide herself away in some sleazy inn where she could scrub layers of her skin away in a shower. She was a weapons master, for god's sake. She should be slicing and dicing things, not prancing around like a –

No. She was a kunoichi. If Tsunade-sama said "Pose as a stripper and get close to one of Sound's top contacts" then she had to respond, "What colour panties shall I wear?"

At least...Tenten took a deep breath. At least she had two very good teammates for this mission. Just knowing that Shikamaru and Shino were both waiting in the wings, watching over her...well, it kind of made her feel better.

She still felt a little sick that guys like them got to see her walking around like a common strumpet. Especially Shino, whose silent strength had always translated itself to Tenten as being very straight-arrow and proper. The Aburame was imposing at the best of times, and the idea that he might disapprove of this (even if it _was _a mission, and a totally stupid notion) wasn't helping at all.

"Is he ready?" She asked, trying to keep her voice steady. Places like this made her want to curl up with her head in the sand – and the last thing she wanted was to be alone with Yamamoto-san, especially when her outfit had no room for kunai or shuriken. All she had was some poisoned senbon inside the locket around her neck and her basic taijutsu.

It felt too much like suicide. Tenten had never been a fan of that kind of ending to her life.

"He is," the man smirked, nodding. "Right this way, Cho-san…"

He spun about on his heel, his shoes making squealing sounds on the hardwood as he moved away at a rapid pace. She moved to follow him.

Nearer to the private dancing rooms, the atmosphere was choked with cigars and strong umeshu, and she pressed her fingertips to her painted lips.

The man gestured to a door, a perverse leer on his face and she suddenly felt her muscles tense. She had to do this – had to go in there and dance for a dangerous, S-class Sound nin while practically unarmed.

"Thanks," Tenten breathed, gritting her jaw. She took a deep breath. She could do this – she was a bloody good ninja, and no lack of clothing would make her believe otherwise.

She forced her body back to normal, stepping forward to wrap her hand around the door knob. She nodded to the man, who slipped away with a dark chuckle.

Her sweaty palm slipped over the cool brass before she got a better grip, and with a twist she slipped the door open and entered.

The little stage she stepped onto once the door was shut had a single pole and a single spotlight, and the area in which the chair with Yamamoto-san upon it was shrouded in shadow and darkness. She could only see the faint outlines of strong thighs, the heels of the sandaled feet propped up on the bottom bars of the barstool-like chair.

She'd danced with the girls once when they were drunk – and when she'd woken up the next morning, she'd gotten three pieces of paper with unidentified numbers on them. Trying to cast her mind back to what she'd done, she took a deep breath as the song she'd picked began to play over the speakers.

Tenten swayed her hips in time to the heavy bass beats as she made her way towards the pole, concentrating on not falling flat on her face. Numbing her feelings down to just the music, she wrapped one hand around the pole and neatly spun so that her back was against it, drawing one leg up to accentuate the thighs beautifully muscled from shinobi training.

_I'm so tired of playing,  
Playing with this bow and arrow,  
Gonna give my heart away,  
Leave it to the other girls to play,  
For I've been a temptress too long._

She twirled around the pole, rocking her hips seductively. The song sounded like pure sex in itself and soon her whole body began to move like liquid, with her hips as the centre of the ripples. Arching her neck, she slipped down the pole and parted her thighs wide, teasingly showing the red g-string and her creamy thighs without the filmy red dress over it.

_Hmm just,  
Give me a reason to love you,  
Give me a reason to be,  
A woman,  
I just wanna be a woman._

Tenten slipped back up the pole, her breasts on either side of the cool steel as she continued to gyrate suggestively. She almost slipped when the realisation that Shikamaru and Shino...god, _Shino_...were watching this.

She managed to keep the rhythm, her heartbeat increasing as she tried to banish the thoughts of her spectators from her head. She spun around the pole, ignoring the prickles on her skin.

_From this time, unchained,  
We're all looking at a different picture,  
Through this new frame of mind,  
A thousand flowers could bloom,  
Move over, and give us some room._

He was behind her.

Her eyes widened in shock as she felt hands settle on her hips, the fingertips digging in with a cocky squeeze – he wasn't supposed to be allowed to touch her! She spun neatly away, swaying in an attempt to make it seem like part of her dance. She couldn't risk getting hurt over something like this – not when so much was at stake already. Her heart was fluttering in panic.

Flicking her hair away, she attempted to catch a glimpse of him – but he was just outside of the spotlight's reach now, and all she could see clearly were the sandaled feet.

Twirling around the pole once more, she put a little twist into her steps. She was wishing that she'd chosen less provocative music, and she fought to keep her breathing in control as she felt him moving again, stepping forwards…

_Yeah,  
Give me a reason to love you,  
Give me a reason to be,  
A woman,  
I just want to be a woman._

He grasped Tenten's arm, whipping her around and pushing her against the pole. She grunted as her spine connected with the steel, the hand that curled around her throat causing sweat to slip down from her hairline. It wasn't threatening, but it was definitely firm. Firm enough to cause worry.

She couldn't fight back lest she give herself away, and she still needed to try and salvage as much from this mission as humanly possible.

It wasn't meant to be like this. She was meant to sneak up to him and try and coax information out of him…

Had he found her out already?

Was she going to die?

"I am sorry, Tenten."

Her eyes widened in shock.

_So don't you stop, being a man,  
Just take a little look from our side when you can,  
Sow a little tenderness,  
No matter if you cry._

The hand on her arm released its tight grip, his fingers stroking over the skin. She gulped, frozen against the pole. The deep voice splashed over her like ice water on her hot skin. A mix of mortification and anger socked her in the stomach as her thoughts whirred. "Sh-Shino...?"

"Yes, it is me."

The figure stepped forward, slowly hitting the glow of the spotlight and she gaped.

He'd lost his jackets at some point, left only in a mesh shirt to cover his upper half. Tenten's eyes couldn't help but track the soft dusting of dark hair that led down from his navel into his pants.

And then she looked at his face – still obscured partly by his goggles, but so much more visible than normal. She didn't know if he was attractive or...disturbing, not right now when she realised that he'd probably been…

"...sitting there the whole time?" She choked out, then, realising that she'd asked a fragmented question, "Were you?"

"My apologies," Shino rumbled. Tenten scanned his face and saw no hint of sincerity. "Yamamoto-san caught wind of us before this plan could be put fully into effect. Shikamaru is interrogating him as we speak."

She flushed, not sure what to feel. Shame was pretty high on the list, though.

_Give me a reason to love you,  
Give me a reason to be,  
A woman,  
It's all I wanna be is all woman_.

Shino loosened the hand at her throat and ran it palm-down to the valley between her breasts, his other hand stroking her cheek with a gentleness that made her gasp.

"Why did I pretend to be him?" He shrugged. "It seemed a shame to...waste...your preparations." He leant in closer, the scent of him making her light-headed. Against Tenten's better judgment, the juncture of her thighs immediately became damp. "You dance very well, Tenten. I knew that before, of course. I have been privileged enough to see you dance several times…"

Her breath hitched, the slide of his fingers over her damp skin playing her like a finely-tuned guitar and an involuntary moan fell from her lips along with name.

"Shi...no..."

_For this is the beginning of forever and ever,  
It's time to move over ,  
So I want to be._

Tenten stumbled, her ankle almost twisting when he grabbed her and flung her around so that the pole once again rested between her breasts, winding her as she crashed into it.

She grabbed it with both hands to try and stop herself from falling over, and the shock mixed with the lighting made her feel as dizzy as anticipation and something else…something that always made her eyes slip shut when she thought of Shino…

She whimpered when his rough hands yanked the red g-string down over her hips, dropping it carelessly to the stage as he hitched up the see-through dress and ran a palm over the flesh of her rear.

Was this really Shino? Tenten wondered, her eyes wide. Was this real?

He kicked her legs apart, and she grabbed onto the pole – her palms slipping over the cool steel and her face scrunching up as moisture drenched her inner thighs. Her legs were shaking as he ran his hands over them, his fingers trailing over her swollen folds.

The long digits pressed inside her, slipping over her hardened bud and teasing at her entrance. One fingertip slid slightly into her channel – pulled out, slid in a little again. She felt on the verge of tears from frustration.

With a quick movement, Shino hoisted one of her thighs up against the pole, the cold metal making her yelp. He curved his hand around the muscles and squeezed roughly. He pushed her forward, making sure she was pressed completely against the pole, and encouraged her to wrap her leg around it.

Tenten obeyed weakly, swallowing on a dry throat. In the back of her mind, she felt ludicrous for her earlier worries about Shino and what he might think of her getup. It didn't seem to matter much to him right now.

The rustle of cloth from behind her caught her attention, her mind short-circuiting when she suddenly felt something hard brushing up the inside of her thigh.

"Tenten?"

She blinked, turning her head the merest twitch so that he knew she was listening as she fought to breathe normally.

"You may wish to hold on."

And then he was on her – pressing her tightly against the pole as he pushed inside her, the hands that gripped her hips yanking her back onto him. She tightened the grip of her hands and her leg on the pole as he positioned himself and, after a few perfunctory shallow thrusts, began to pump. Hard.

She was unsteady even with the pole, the one foot on the ground threatening to overbalance in the stiletto. Her whole body was rocking, her hair falling out of its style to stick to her forehead and neck as he fucked her with all the force in his hips.

_I'm so tired of playing,  
Playing with this bow and arrow,  
Gonna give my heart away,  
Leave it to the other girls to play.  
For I've been a temptress too long._

She could feel it growing within her – the painful pleasure was beginning to swell. It was sleazy – it was rough – and it was nothing that she'd ever imagined sex with him to be (and oh yes, she had imagined it).

He bit her shoulder, leaning over her and surrounding her already hot body with such intense heat that she broke into a sweat all over, bucking against him as her whines grew in volume.

Tenten's vision tunneled as she came. She felt his whole body go rigid before shuddering. She gasped for breath, blinding reaching a hand behind her and feeling it cup Shino's cheek.

After a few moments of harshly panting against her neck, he moved to stand upright, pulling her with him and resting her against the pole before she tripped up in the heels. She held onto it gratefully, resting her hot forehead against the steel while her body shook.

His footsteps scuffed across the stage as he put himself back into his pants and tied them up again. He turned towards her, face shadowed.

"A shinobi utilises every advantage, no matter how small or...risky." He paused, and Tenten could feel the weight of his eyes from behind the goggles. He didn't look worried, or repentant. He looked determined. He lowered his head, and a tiny smirk tipped his lips. "I am very good at turning situations to my advantage, Tenten."

Tenten gulped. She felt like a giant raw nerve, reduced to a pulp first by his body and now his stare. "I noticed," she murmured.

She watched him turn away. "Wait!"

He stopped, not turning around.

She felt foolish, desperate, as she fumbled for the right words. "Once you have the advantage, what do you do? Deal with it and let it go?"

She thought she heard him chuckle, but it could have been a snort. It could have been anything. "I do not involve myself needlessy, Tenten. Besides, is an advantage not a means to an end? I am nowhere near finished."

He disappeared into shadow, his footsteps silenced.

The air was thick with the scent of him and the scent of sex. Bending down to pull up her g-string, she processed his words with a rapidly beating heart.

_Hmm just,  
Give me a reason to love you._


	8. Baby Talk

_DISCLAIMER: I don't own Naruto, it belongs to Masashi Kishimoto._

_NOTES: Okay, there's a lot to talk about this time, so I'm separating it into sections. Firstly,_

_**KIRIBAN** - I am working on MyUsedRomance's kiriban - it was meant to be next, but this is something from a trade with Rel and I decided to put it in Metamorphoze. I promise you, the kiriban is the next drabble. The NEXT kiriban will be at **100 reviews**._

_**GLORY BOX, THE LAST ONESHOT (PLEASE READ!) -** there seems to be masses of confusion over this oneshot, so I'm going to explain a few things. I've watched Shino very closely, in episodes and in manga. He's a very subtle character without much screentime, so many facets of his personality are easy to miss. However, he isn't the passive, calm sap so many people paint him out to be. He has his gentler sides, but make no mistake - Shino has his flaws and his dark sides just like the rest of us. Have any of you seen the latest Team 8 ending? Where Shino pays Kiba back for ignoring him by putting foul-smelling food under his nose? Shino isn't above being underhand - he's an aggressive character, he just isn't excessively or unreasonably aggressive._

_The thing that gets me the most about the reviews for the last oneshot is that so many people seem to view it as rape, or close to rape. No. No way. Where, at any point, did Tenten tell him no and not want his advances? In fact, at the beginning of the story, Tenten clearly shows worry over what Shino will think of her attire - she cares what he thinks, which I hoped would imply that she's interested in him. I'm sorry if I'm expecting my readers to pay too much attention or something - I'm a Lit student, it's sort of my second nature now to close-read everything and pick out every little detail and it's something I forget other people don't do._

_I don't want to be a mediocre writer, guys. When I write a story, I try for an edge of realism. With fanfiction that's tough, especially anime fanfiction, but I try. For me, realism is _

_1) analysing characters and exploring their personalities in different ways. Shino is taking advantage, but not by being a rapist. Watch his fight scenes again. _

_2) acknowledging that the narrator isn't always going to be omniscient. By this, I mean that yes - Shino's actions may have come as a surprise. But Tenten doesn't see inside Shino's head, she's not a mind reader. And if Shino's been wanting to be with her for a while, she's not going to know, is she? This was from her point of view, so it's going to be stunted on Shino's end. _

_3) showing that not all romance/sex scenes are going to be bunnies and fluff and skipping through meadows. Maybe not all of you agree with rough-housing - it's certainly not rape, and I've seen "Awww sweet" reviews on rape stories, so you can imagine how dumbfounded I am by the reactions to this oneshot. It's consensual - just a bit of a surprise for Tenten, and a bit of a burst of emotion for Shino (which, without omniscience isn't too obvious - I'm sorry I didn't want to headhop and explain the whole story away - those are patronising things to do and I believe my readers to be discerning enough to figure it out for themselves). Unfortunately, as most experienced people know, sex is rarely the joyous occasion many authors make it out to be. It's not always rainbows, even when it's good. If this bothers readers, I'm sorry, and I'll put up bolder warnings next time. But I don't regret the oneshot. At all._

_In future I'll be putting up clearer warnings. I'm sorry if I sound at all annoyed, I'm merely taken aback by the 'rape' thing - non-con is a touchy issue for me, I hate it and don't take it lightly at all. I have yet to write a non-con scene, and to have any of my works mistaken for one is a bit of a blow. In future, if anything I write doesn't make sense, please say in a review 'I'm not sure I understand the last chapter...please explain' and I'm happy to email you. I mentioned that these oneshots are going to be in a variety of genres - if there's a lack of emotional connection, don't be too surprised. Not everything I write is going to be happily ever after. I'm planning a oneshot where Shino's a serial killer, for god's sake (thanks to Jaims182 for that idea in her review!). The ratings I added to this collection are there because they encompass most of the themes, but I can't put every single warning up there._

_Kivlov: I'm sorry you feel that way, and everyone is entitled to their opinion. I feel sad that this oneshot was so misunderstood. There was no breach of anything here, aside from a trick that Shino played into making Tenten believe he was someone else - BEFORE he made his move. Think about it - could have been a lot worse, if he truly intended to be the bad guy, which he didn't. It wasn't too big a transgression, in my opinion - everyone does underhand things at least once in their life. Tenten was surprised, but didn't say no. It seems what you were looking for in your review are the more fluffy seductions in my other oneshots. I'm trying for different angles. If not all that I hit upon are to your tastes, I apologise - I'll put warnings more clearly on my updates from now on._

_THIS ONESHOT - written as a trade with Rel. She wanted to see Shino babysitting, and this is what happened._

_**A NOTE ABOUT THE STATUS.** It will be listed as complete but will be updated whenever a new drabble is uploaded - so please don't think this is it, there's more to come._

_Enjoy, and please review! Remember, the next kiriban is 100._

**TITLE:** Baby Talk

**PAIRINGS:** ShinoTen, implied Shibi/Kurenai (check out Rel's fic Unsaid, as it inspired this)

**RATING:** PG-13

**GENRE:** Romance/Humour/Fluff

* * *

"He's so cute – yes he is!"

Tenten's arrival hadn't been anticipated – not in the least. But, Shino decided as he watched her holding the baby's small chubby hands and cooing to him, it was a very welcome surprise. Not that she had been very surprised to see him, even though she claimed to be there to deliver something to Kurenai-sensei. His reasons for being there were clearly a bit more of a surprise to her - the moment the kunoichi had noticed the infant, her eyes had lit up.

She'd been easily convinced to stay, without any words being said at all.

Shino peered over his list of instructions at Tenten as she cooed in a high-pitched voice, her features softened by her smile. Slowly, he tilted his head down to peer at the baby boy lying on a blanket on the floor, kicking his chubby legs around in the air and smiling broadly to reveal his bare gums.

Even children were drawn to her, it seemed.

Unsurprising. Shino was sitting close enough to her on the floor that he could smell a soft homely scent coming from her – something like baking and tea. Her face was strangely gentle and rounded for a weapons kunoichi, deceptively cherubic.

There was nothing deceptive about her heart, of course, and Shino supposed that was what Ichirou was picking up on. Babies tended to be very intuitive about that sort of thing. There was something matronly about Tenten - something that had to be felt rather than seen.

"I'm surprised Kurenai-sensei forgot the report thing," Tenten said, glancing at Shino with dancing eyes. "I can leave it here, right? You'll tell her?" Her grin was just a little mischievous.

He nodded, watching the way Ichirou's stubby fingers tightened on Tenten's slender, graceful ones. The baby's lips moved in an obvious effort to communicate, concentrated frustration on his face when no sounds came out.

Shino's throat tightened. A sudden stab of panic hit him, a sense of exposure, and he looked back down at the list of instructions.

How very complicated everything looked. But then, mothers tended to coddle, did they not?

"...looks so much like his father."

Shino started. "What?"

"Ichirou. He looks just like Asuma-sensei," Tenten said. "But with Kurenai-sensei's hair."

"Hmmm."

"I wonder if that's a rule," Tenten murmured, stroking Ichirou's round cheek with her finger. "That boys look like their fathers. Do you look like your father, Shino?"

He hesitated. It was strange to be having conversations like this. They had only been speaking to each other beyond their job dictations for a month or so, since a mission to Rain Country. But their conversations had always been very offhand and casual, a careful dance around their personalities. For her to ask him something personal was a step over the boundaries. Something new.

"Yes," he said, looking at Tenten and feeling glad for his goggles. "I..."

Shino paused, unconsciously tightening his fingers on the paper as he sniffed the air. He looked down at Ichirou.

Ichirou stared back at him, fingers shoved into his small mouth with spit bubbles appearing between them. It startled the Aburame. Was it normal for children to froth at the mouth?

"I think...the child needs to be changed," Shino said.

Tenten looked down at Ichirou. "I can't smell anything?" She ended on a question, cocking her head at the innocent-looking child. There were hints of worry on her face, as if the idea of a dirty nappy was as bad for her as it was for Shino.

"I can." Shino looked back at the list. The instructions seemed simple, but he was smart enough to know that having instructions written on paper and carrying them out were two very different things. And while he had been in the presence of young children before, he had never taken an active role in their care.

It made him rather nervous. He didn't like it when he had no idea what to do. He looked at Tenten. "I have never changed a nappy before."

"Never?"

"And Kurenai-sensei's explanation is...confusing. At best."

Ichirou cooed and rolled his small head around on the blanket, looking everywhere with large brown eyes. The tuft of black hair on his head stuck up in all directions, and little bits of skin were flaking around his hairline. As Shino watched, a trail of oozy white vomit slipped out of the baby's mouth around his stubby fingers.

"Ooooh!" Tenten looked around. "Do you have something to clean him with?"

He'd been warned that Ichirou might do this, having just been fed, but it was alarming nonetheless. Shino passed Tenten a bib, which she used to mop up the sick. He grimacing behind his jacket. Ichirou had never changed facial expression – showed no sign of being disturbed by the liquid flowing freely from his mouth.

Fair enough, the baby only consumed liquids. But Shino couldn't help but be amazed at how simple it was for a baby to be sick, when adults seemed to heave and flop and end up in more pain than before the retching started. If only it had been as easy as this when Kiba had tricked him into getting drunk - if Shino had simply let it...slip out...then perhaps the memory of the morning after wouldn't be quite so traumatic.

Ichirou made a soft noise of annoyance when Tenten pulled his hand away from his mouth to clean it and kicked his legs. She smiled. "There you go! All clean." She looked over at Shino. "I can change nappies. So...how did you get roped into babysitting, then?"

It was a good question.

"It seemed like the decent thing to do," he replied.

It was the eighteenth of October, and Kurenai-sensei had made plans to leave her home for two hours – to go to a place Shino could only guess, but would never ask about. It would never occur to him to be curious. Kunoichi though she was, she wore her broken heart on her face like a scar and Shino had always made it his business to be aware of the minor details, including birthdays.

He respected his sensei. He didn't really know her well enough to say that he liked her, but he respected her. He often felt strange when looking upon her, knowing how – if things had been a little different – she would have been the Aburame matriarch rather than the deceased Aburame Kuniko, and he would never have existed.

No, it was not necessarily 'liking' Kurenai-sensei that had made Shino step forward, but the fact that she was a curiosity and a living link to the side of his father he'd never had the opportunity to explore before. His father's only other romantic interest had died in childbirth, after all.

Well, that and the fact that everyone else Kurenai-sensei would have wanted to babysit Ichirou was away.

He didn't explain these things to Tenten, but then she didn't seem to have expected elaboration on his words. She simply nodded and reached for the nappy supplies.

Shino looked at the sheet of instructions, describing how to change the baby's nappy. He was usually very good at understanding things, but these directions seemed to swim and jumble before his eyes until he felt mildly panicked.

He looked at Ichirou, who stared right back at him. He looked at Tenten, who happily hunted through the bag of supplies.

Would it be too terrible of him to make a strategic retreat before the nappy was taken off? He disliked strong smells. Very much.

Tenten worked on the babygro, coaxing Ichirou's floundering limbs out of the flannel material until the white nappy was the only thing barring them from certain death. Shino stared at it a moment longer, wishing that there was some sort of jutsu for this.

By the time Tenten had a clean nappy on Ichirou, Shino was feeling rather nauseous. Baby poo was like velcro - it had taken Tenten a long time to clean the baby up completely, especially with Shino's carefully calm questions about why it smelled so awful, why it was yellow, and how could something so small create something so terrible. After depositing the soiled nappy for her, Shino went back into the living room.

Tenten had Ichirou in her lap, his back against her chest. She rocked him gently and his eyes drooped, small hands clutching at her arms. Shino had only seen Tenten either on missions or at Ichiraku's before now. She had conducted herself in a professional but casual manner both times - he suspected that it was her way, to behave as she would want to be seen, and it was something he could appreciate. Now, he had the feeling that he was seeing the personal side of Tenten...the side that appeared when curtains were drawn.

"You are very good with children," Shino blurted.

Tenten flushed. "So...so are you. He was very content when I came in." She brushed some hair away from her face. "And his eyes follow you around often. Have you taken care of children before?"

"No." Shino leant against the doorjamb. "There are children in my family, but..." he trailed off, not really knowing how to explain the solitude that came naturally to the Aburame clan.

Again, Tenten didn't seem to need an explanation. She smiled and nodded. "Well, I bet you'll be a great dad someda – "

She paused, her mouth open. Whether she'd noticed how tense he had suddenly become, or whether she had issue with her own words he couldn't tell. She snapped her jaw shut and leant her chin on Ichirou's head, her cheeks bright red. She gnawed her lower lip.

"Thank you," Shino said, looking at her. The way her arms held Ichirou, and the perfect way the baby fit against her was hypnotic. "I am certain you will be a good mother."

"Thanks!" The word came out a little rushed, a little breathless. "I mean, I'd love to have children so long as, you know. The job and all." Yes, he knew. "I know lots of names already, I mean I'd like Ryuunosuke – or, or Kanon, how cool is that name? And - "

"I would have to pick the names," Shino winced, unable to imagine inflicting such torture on his child. Aburame Kanon? Cruelty, pure cruelty.

Then he realised what he had just said. He looked at Tenten.

Her cheeks were red, her eyes wide. She stared at him.

"If...I were to have children, I would have to pick the names," Shino rectified. "It is...family tradition." One little white lie wouldn't hurt.

"Oh," Tenten said, something strange in her voice. She gave a wheezy laugh and looked down at the baby, now asleep against her chest. "Right. Well, you'll do a great job picking, I'm sure." She pulled a face, as if suddenly realising just what she was discussing. "Though I guess it's still too early to talk like that, right?"

Shino clenched his hands in his pockets. Earliness was just the tip of his problems. He had yet to actively attempt to make someone his bride, and most Aburame men had done so by this age.

It wasn't until Tenten took a deep breath that he realised he had said the last part aloud.

"You'll find someone," she said, her brown eyes soft. One of her hands stroked down one of Ichirou's chubby arms in soothing motions. "I know you will."

Her voice was resolute and...something else. Something wistful, perhaps.

Shino wasn't sure if it was that hint of something else, or the sentiment, but he found himself kneeling next to her and taking Ichirou from her arms, settling the baby into the crook of his elbow. Up close, Tenten's face wasn't cherubic so much as young. It was a fresh, gentle face – the kind any child would worship. And any husband.

"Yes," Shino agreed. His face was inches from hers. "Perhaps I will, after all."

Tenten's eyes were wide. He watched them dart between his goggles and his lips. There was no hint of rejection on her face, no hint of worry or confusion.

He leant closer.

"Shino?" The front door closed, and he heard the swift movement of Kurenai-sensei's feet across the floor.

He inwardly cursed his sensei's timing. He frowned over his shoulder, most of the expression hidden by his garb.

Kurenai stopped in the doorway and blinked at the sight before her. The gravity that had been dulling her eyes disappeared, a small smirk appearing on her face. "Am I interrupting something?"

Shino gritted his teeth as Tenten laughed nervously. He looked down at the baby in his arms.

His smile was unseen.


	9. Honey Glazed

_DISCLAIMER: I don't own Naruto, I just play with the characters._

_MISC: Well, since you guys all seemed to like Honey Trap so much and since a few reviews I've had have wondered about what might happen next, I used **MyUsedRomance's** wonderful kiriban prompts to take it to the next level. It fit so well, AND you guys get another lemon. Fate, ne? _

_**KIRIBAN:** The next kiriban is at 100 reviews. Whoever gets the kiriban will receive a PM from myself letting them know they've got it, and they can pick the prompt for the next oneshot. I will warn kiriban-ers first though - I have two oneshots to be posted after this one (the serial killer one, and a drabble for Eight-Days-A-Week) so if they appear before the kiriban, don't be too surprised - I've been owing these for a little while. Other than that, expect it asap!_

**TITLE:** Honey Glazed

**PAIRINGS:** ShinoTen

**RATING:** M

**GENRE:** Romance/Erotica/Slight humour

* * *

Meet him in the training grounds, eh? She'd do better than that.

Konoha had several training grounds, and one of the most commonly used ones was a rich forest – not the forest from the Chuunin exams, thank god. This forest was the preferred training grounds of ninja who excelled in stealth. You would rarely catch Naruto training in this forest, and even if he tried, the whole bright orange thing wouldn't help his cause anyway.

Tenten slipped silently through the trees, her eyes narrowed in concentration and her attention honed in on the chakra signature pulsing from roughly forty feet northeast of her position.

Crouching on a tree branch, she took a moment to check her situation and make sure that he hadn't moved. Her jaw was tensed with determination, her whole body so wired that she was proud of her self-control so far.

She was planning on getting that honey.

Maybe it shouldn't have been that important to her – she didn't like rising to challenges and baiting so easily. And those who'd taken the time to notice it knew that Aburame Shino could be a master manipulator when the mood struck.

Here she was, wandering straight into his plans.

Or not. As far as Tenten was concerned, this was the perfect opportunity to prove to him that she was no pushover and that she could take control. She preferred to ignore the fact that staying at home and declining his challenge would have been a better way to prove this.

Truthfully? It had been good. Tenten leant against the tree trunk, feeling a little flushed from the memory of it. It had been _really_ good. And it was a little hard to forget, especially with his performance in front of her friends earlier. She didn't know whether to slap him or beg him for more, frankly, and that pissed her off more than anything else.

She wasn't a dog begging for attention.

And yet here she was. Of course, she wasn't going to let him dominate her like he had last night. She wasn't drunk anymore, and she was far too riled up with his over-confident arrogance that she wasn't nervous either.

Tenten crept forwards again. The heat was picking up as summer drew nearer, the leaves green and healthy. Mosquitos flitted around her for a taste of blood and she batted them away, irritated, as she continued her quiet and shielded approach.

She didn't know what she was expecting, as she got closer toShino's location. Maybe for him to cut off his chakra and suddenly disappear. For him to notice her and confront her. To loom up behind her and prove that her stealth and tracking skills left a lot to be desired.

Part of her – a tiny part – was also a little worried about rejection.

What she didn't expect, though, was arriving at the small clearing and find Shino standing completely still, looking contemplative and patient, his hands...clasped in front of him?

Well, that was a weird way to stand. Tenten cocked her head at him. He looked like an old shopkeep, enquiring how you would like your meat sliced. As she wandered further into the clearing, he didn't move his head, and with his goggles it was impossible to tell whether he was looking at her or not.

Then his head lifted.

"Tenten. Just in time."

Okay...what? Tenten stopped, a few feet in front of him, and gave him a weird look. Shino's tone was almost conversational – or at least, it was to her, since she'd been able to pick up on the various inflections of Aburame monotone during their little romp.

She put her hands on her hips, unable to decide whether or not his weird pose was deterring her hormones or not. She studied him. Nope, she still wanted him. Damn it.

What was it about him that was causing it? With those jackets on, it was impossible to see the compact body she'd been up close and personal with last night, so it wasn't like the sight of baggy material was getting her hot. And surely the memories of last night weren't _still_...stupid, of course they were.

But there was something about his stance (bizarrely clasped hands aside) that carried attitude, confidence. It was attractive on levels so few people managed to communicate on.

If only his hands were in his pockets like usual. This new pose was creeping her out.

"For what?" She asked, eyeballing his hands – not so much clasped, she saw, as cupped.

"Please open that specimen jar," he said, gesturing with his chin towards where he'd abandoned his pack by a small cluster of risen tree roots.

"Spec...ooooooh." So he had a bug in there? She unconsciously breathed a sigh of relief. Strange, how seeing Shino doing something like cupping his hands together was on par with seeing a member of Akatsuki running rampant without clothes on. Not that she'd seen that! She just...

Tenten sighed. She gave up on her addled brain and walked over to pick up the jar. It looked very official – a glass contraption with some greens in the bottom, and small holes for breathing. She took off the lid and held the jar out.

Shino dropped a brightly coloured insect inside, helping her secure the lid. His hand brushed hers and she nearly burnt up from the inside out.

Trying to distract herself, she stared at the bug inside the jar, and decided that it was one of the weirdest things she'd ever seen. It was a strange mix between butterfly, grass hopper and scorpion – it looked highly dangerous and highly beautiful, all at once.

"What...?" She squinted at it.

"The heat is bringing tropical insects in from other countries," Shino said, taking the jar from her and raising it to his face. "My father wishes to study some of them. This one is believed to have come from Yugakure."

Tenten blinked. "Yu...gakure? Hot Water? Are you serious?" Stupid question – and Shino emphasised that by raising a brow. "Well that's...very. I wonder what kind of guys _that_ village produces?"

"It sounds rather like a tourist resort," Shino admitted. "And I believe it has not been a functioning shinobi village for some time. So it most likely is."

Tenten watched him place the jar in his backpack, staring at the way his jacket pulled tightly across his back when he crouched down. She'd been sure he would be training when she found him – had expected to see him sweating a little from exertion, maybe. Not that she'd _wanted _to see that or anything.

As Shino rose, she took in his height with more than a little satisfaction. He was getting to be quite tall – while it made him seem more imposing, to her it was simply another physical jackpot on her list. Unfortunately for her, nice eyes were at the top of her jackpot list, and this jerk still had yet to –

"Hey, wait!" She cried, suddenly noticing that Shino had picked up his backpack and begun to walk away. He stopped, his back to her, his hands in his pockets. "Where d'you think you're going? You said – "

"I remember what I said," Shino replied. "Why? Because I pay attention."

She glowered at him.

"I said that I would be happy to oblige you, if you wished to try and get the honey." He turned his head, his goggles glinting at her. "You have not tried at all, Tenten."

"What?" Tenten's eyes widened. "But – I was helping – "

"I would have found at least ten possible opportunities before I revealed myself to you," Shino said. "You have come here completely unprepared. What were you planning, I wonder?"

_To rip you to pieces_, she thought, deeply irritated.

"Perhaps we should take a 'rain check'," he continued. "You could attempt to try again when your mind is on the task."

_Insufferable little_ –

Tenten glared at him. "Oh, my mind's on the task."

Before she'd spoken the first word, she darted forwards. In a manoeuvre she was really proud of herself for, she managed to dislodge Shino's backpack from his shoulders to prevent harm to the bug and knock him onto his back at the same time.

It was a pretty sweet move. Lee would be so proud of her. Sniff.

Tenten straddled Shino's waist, pressing her hands against his shoulders to keep him against the grass. She caught the slightly surprised look on his face, and mentally clapped herself on the back.

Shino relied, she knew, on facial expressions and body language just as much as he relied on his bugs. She'd given nothing away when she charged him, and a little chakra-enchanced speed had prevent him from using a replacement jutsu or a clone in that short amount of time.

"Tenten, this is foolish," Shino said. "If this is your attempt, you are hardly disadvantaging me. Why? I could break free from this easily."

"True," Tenten nodded, feeling a little victorious that he _hadn't_ tried. His body felt brilliantly firm between her legs, his warmth making the summer heat almost unbearable. "But _would_ you break free from this?"

She injected every little bit of her lust, of her longing, of her hormonal surges since she'd seen him that morning and ran her hands down his torso, tingling pheremone-laced chakra through his skin to his kikkai.

Shino sucked in a sharp breath. His hands grasped her waist and he tried to lift her up, but she steadfastly kept herself planted over him. As she shifted, she felt the reason for his discomfort pressing against her and grinned.

As she'd thought. This wasn't gonna be a big deal at all.

With careful fingers, Tenten began to trace the lines of his nose and cheekbones. He was beautiful, really – though he'd probably prefer handsome. Guys were funny like that.

His whole facial structure fit together perfectly – what she could see of it, anyway. And those lips seemed a little too sinful on a man.

She waited for him to break free of her touch – to suddenly turn into a log in a cloud of smoke. But nothing happened. It was then that she realised that this was the first time she'd been able to touch Shino without him controlling the circumstances – without him initiating it. This willing touch was probably something he had never felt to this extent before.

Maybe he hadn't even expected it.

Tenten looked at him, her touches stopping just below his goggles. After everything, it was hard to remember that this was the solitary and often shunned member of the Rookie 9. No matter what he showed to her, this was still the same Shino.

"Is it really such a big deal, letting me see your eyes?" She coaxed, stroking her fingertips over his smooth cheek. His breathing seemed a little more erratic, his eyebrows more furrowed than usual. "You look hot, Shino."

Apparently deciding to take the more innocent meaning, Shino swallowed. "I can regulate my body temperature." His voice gave nothing away, and it's smoothness both heated and irked the kunoichi.

"Then why don't you?" She smirked, and her fingers moved to the zip of his overjacket. "Let me help you." She began to move the zip down, relishing the crackling noise of it parting beneath her touch.

"That is not necess – " He began to reach up to stop her.

Tenten rocked her hips over him, and Shino stopped immediately – his hand instead falling to her hip. His facial expression never wavered, though she swore she saw an eyebrow twitch.

Tenten parted the jacket and opened it, looking with amusement at the black underjacket. "You sure like making life hard for a girl."

Shino raised an eyebrow. "Of course. Why? Because I am always prepared to be straddled by hormonal women." Sarcasm was something she had never heard from him before. Probably because she'd never looked for it. But there it was – right there, in the small inflection of his voice.

"If you ever left your jackets lowered a bit more, you'd need to be," she replied, unzipping the black one in a quick movement.

Shino didn't say anything, but she could feel the doubt radiating from him.

Did he honestly have no idea of the affect he had? If he didn't realise that, then how the hell had he managed to exude such confidence in the bedroom that he'd left her ready to resort to begging tricks if necessary?

Tenten looked down at his mesh shirt, which did nothing to hide the compact torso underneath. Noticing certain muscles bunching as though he was readying himself to move, she quickly teased him with another shot of chakra. He made a definite sound this time – a soft, barely audible grunt.

"And sarcasm isn't becoming, Shino," she teased.

"Neither is underhand fighting," he said, and – oh? Was that a hint of strain she heard in his voice?

"Ironnnnyyyyy," she snorted. Shino had the good grace to look agreeable – he was, after all, one of the most underhanded people she'd known. Oh, no one would know it to look at him but the man knew how to turn every situation in his advantage in any way he knew how.

Just look at her deflowering.

Tired of talking, Tenten leaned in to nip his collarbone, enjoying the racing of his pulse when she moved her lips to it. Shino's fingers tightened subtly against her hips, his throat moving with a slow swallow that made her grin.

His skin smelled heady – it smelled just like his _bed_, and that was making her even more turned on, damn it. Just thinking about that bed, and the interrogation, and the amount of times he'd taken her –

"Stop," Shino rasped, and she realised that she'd been sending her chakra to him again.

He shifted, pressing his hardness against her, his legs bending up at the knees until his thighs were pressing against her rear. Tenten pressed her lips against him, feeling suddenly worried that he might take flight.

He was unresponsive for a moment, letting her brush and nip over his lips before he responded in kind. His touch was firm – too firm for her liking, and Tenten pulled back. He could have control some other time. This was _her_ time.

Gulping, she moved her hands to the ties of his pants and began to undo them. Her fingers fumbled – she'd never done anything like this before, hadn't had a chance to be this bold yet. The way Shino's lips parted as she undid his ties made her feel powerful – sexy.

"I don't...take very well..." Tenten lifted her hips off of him enough to grasp his pants and pull them partway down. "...to teasing."

"Clearly." Shino's breathing was audible when Tenten took him in hand, stroking him with inexperienced but firm motions.

She shifted up and shucked her own pants down, just enough to not restrain her when she straddled him. Her flush was burning on her cheeks, her nerves beginning to show through. Tenten quickly leant forwards to kiss him as she guided him inside, wincing at the new angle.

Tenten began to set a rhythm, watching as Shino gripped her thighs, his jaw tightening. It was clumsy, and it was slow – she knew that. But his cheeks were tinging pink now and his hands were gripping her hard enough to leave faint bruises.

He felt good – _this_ felt good, to be the one calling the shots, the one driving the other mad.

She moaned, rocking over him, losing herself in him. With her eyes closed, all she could feel was his body, his hardness within her, his hands on her. She could smell him – the heat making that scent stronger the longer they were joined. He was everywhere.

"Tenten...?"

She cracked her eyes open – and gulped at the slight smirk on his lips.

"You are going very slow," he remarked, his voice breathy and deep. "How do you ever expect to reach nirvana in this manner?"

He flipped them, pushing Tenten's legs up towards her torso to keep himself inside her. She gasped – crying out when doubled the speed of their earlier movements. She grasped his arms, her knees hooked over his shoulders, and stared in hazy awe at the predatory set of his face.

He was once again taking control.

Damn him. Damn him to –

He thrust hard and she jerked at the motion, her knee knocking against his cheek. He repeated the motion – again, and again, pushing Tenten over the edge with a soft cry. Her eyes squeezed shut against the feeling, slipping open as the heatwave subsided...

And she blinked.

Tenten stared, wide-eyed. Her knee had jarred his goggles, shifting them down on one side just enough to reveal a golden, honey-coloured eye before Shino snapped it shut and pushed into her one last time.

He stilled above her, taking deep breaths, before pulling out.

Tenten sat up, her muscles feeling saggy from the workout and her shirt stuck to her skin with sweat. She pulled her pants back up, watching Shino straighten himself up until it looked as though nothing had happened at all.

If you ignored the grass stains on his knees, anyway.

"Well played," he said.

"I wasn't playing," Tenten replied, brushing loose brown strands away from her face. "Well, not for _that_ anyway. You kinda...riled me up."

"..." He was looking at her, she could feel it. She couldn't read his face – couldn't tell whether he believed her or not.

Tenten swallowed, her mouth dry from her exertions. Her body throbbed in the memory of him. "For the record...you have amazing eyes." She blushed and smiled. "Kinda like something glazed with honey."

Shino raised an eyebrow. "You are obsessed with honey." He sounded pleased, anyway.

"You're the one who started the metaphor!" Tenten protested, throwing a clump of grass at him.

"As delighted as the Hokage would be to know that you are undertaking the task of keeping the forest grass short, desist. I am filthy enough as it is."

"Yeah," Tenten agreed, though not about the same kind of filthy.

Shino stood, offering her a hand. Tenten took it, allowing herself to be pulled to her feet. She watched him shoulder his backpack again after checking on the insect, a little smile on her face.

She paused. Her smile fell.

"Shino."

"...?"

Tenten narrowed her eyes at him. "You were very easy to break."

"I suppose I was," he agreed, putting his hands in his pockets.

"Too easy."

"Ah, so you noticed."

Her jaw dropped.

"You see, Tenten, strategy is important. Why? Because it allows for long-term planning." Shino began to walk towards the edge of the clearing. "Even with flies and honey, it is sometimes advantageous to the one who wishes to catch them to give them a small taste. It gives them incentive to come back later."

"You...!" Oh, he was gonna _get_ it.

"I had not planned on you seeing my eye," Shino admitted. "However, I do not see any negative impact on my strategy. In fact, after your reactions, I believe it may have reinforced it."

"Strategy?" Tenten said dumbly.

"All is fair in love and war, Tenten," Shino said. "Both both need strategy, do they not?"

He was gone in a blur – so quickly that Tenten doubted he'd been there for a stupid moment. She stared at the spot where he'd been and ran his words through her mind.

Then she screamed. "DAMN YOU, SHINO!"


	10. Everything For You

_DISCLAIMER: I don't own Naruto, it belongs to Masashi Kishimoto._

_****WARNING! EXTREME DISTURBING CONTENT IN THIS ONESHOT! PLEASE READ NOTES!****_

**_CHARACTER DEATH/PSYCHOLOGICAL DISTURBANCE/VIOLENCE/ANGST_**

_NOTES: This is the serial killer!Shino fic I planned after Jaims182 put the idea in my head, and god - okay, well:_

_1) This is one of the most twisted things I've written. If you're not prepared to read something that's showing Shino as a complete psychological mess, then please skip over this chapter. It's Shino meets Hidan meets Hannibal Lecter, and it's no joke. It's twisted and warped, from beginning to end, and I terrified myself while writing it - no joke. I'm still feeling rough now._

_2) There's a LOT of character death in this. _

_3) Hannibal Lecter played a large inspiration when it came to wriggling into the mind of a serial killer. And one of the character deaths was inspired by the movie Untraceable, which is awesome in its sheer gruesomeness. _

_4) This is one of the first times I've been really affected by what I've written. I was uneasy and uncomfortable all the way through writing this, and nearly cried when I finished it. I'm not the kind of person who gets emotionally involved to that extent EVER - this oneshot took a big chunk out of me, and I'm both in love with it and in pain from it at the same time. In that respect, please heed the warnings I've put up and treat it gently. It's still a piece of fiction, even if it's f**cked up._

_5). I FULLY intend on writing a happy oneshot after this, because I need to recover - and you guys probably will too._

_**KIRIBAN**: 100 reviews, remember. I'll PM whoever gets the kiriban so that they can prompt me!_

* * *

**TITLE:** Everything For You

**PAIRINGS:** ShinoTen, slight ShikaIno, implied HidaTen, KakaTen, SaiTen, NejiTen, ZakuTen, DeiTen (you'll see)

**RATING:** MATURE

**GENRE:** Horror/Angst

* * *

She didn't normally smoke. It was a horrible habit – it made her throat hurt, made her clothes stink, tarred her lungs.

But she made an exception today.

Tenten's hands shook, sending little bits of ash from the glowing tip onto the floor. She looked outside the window, watching the torrential rain pelt the sidewalks and bounce off of umbrellas. It was home time for the school kids – small children were holding their mothers' hands, wading through puddles with the hoods of their bright macs pulled over their heads.

The windows were soundproofed, and it left a chill in her bones – the same uneasiness she got when she watched old silent movies or muted the TV. She could imagine the sound the rain made, but it wasn't enough.

She looked away from the window.

Inside, she could hear the tapping of keys, the whirring of coffee machines, the hum of voices. She was in her office; alone save for her computer and a cup of cooling latte. Some thoughtful person had left a box of glazed doughnuts on her desk, and Tenten stared at them with a churning stomach.

It didn't seem right, that sugar-coated treats could exist. Not now.

She felt dampness on her cheek and wiped her eyes frantically with her sleeve. Crying wouldn't do her any good.

She went to take a puff from her cigarette and found it unlit. She couldn't see her lighter, so she dropped it onto her desk and turned back to the window.

They caught him.

She leant her forehead against the cold glass, watching cars glide through the slick roads, and bit her lip. They hadn't told her anything yet – hell, she was lucky they'd agreed to let her do the questioning, considering he...

Could she really do it? Tenten's throat tightened with panic, her chest pained. Could she see him, face to face? Subject X, the one who had haunted her life for seven years?

The serial killer who had very nearly gone without being caught?

"Tenten?"

She flinched, looking over her shoulder.

Shikamaru stood with his hands in his pockets, his face grim. He chewed on an old pencil, his way of trying to give up smoking now that his wife was pregnant. "You okay?"

She nodded. "Yes." A pause. "No." Another pause. "_Yes_."

Shikamaru sighed, taking the pencil out of his mouth and tucking it behind his ear. "I don't think you should do this. It's not just troublesome – it's a freak show, Tenten. I really don't think you should – "

"I wasn't expecting Teletubbies and hair braiding," Tenten glared, her eyes misted. "I've known everybody added to the count, haven't I?"

"Tenten," he said, quietly but firmly. "I'm not even saying this as your colleague. I'm saying this as your friend – this is your last chance to step out. I've taken a risk, letting you work on such a personal case, but this...I don't think it's a good idea – "

"Please." Tenten made an effort to stand straighter and compose herself. "Please, let me end this. I want to know why."

Shikamaru stared at her. She held his gaze until he huffed and shrugged, his shoulders slumping with the weight of the world. "Right. I'll fill you in before we go to Room 3."

Tenten nodded. To give her hands something to do, she picked up her Styrofoam cup of latte and sipped it, wincing when she found it cold.

"Name's Aburame Shino. Born January twenty-third nineteen eighty-four. Father was killed in front of him when he was four years old, shot dead in a mini-mart robbery. Mother went mad and killed herself a year later. Was passed around from foster home to foster home until he was old enough to land on his own feet. Has to wear dark-lens sunglasses on prescription because of an eye condition."

It sounded like a perfectly sympathetic story. If she didn't know the person in Room 3 had killed four people – that they _knew _of – and left one comatose, then her heart might have gone out to Aburame Shino.

"I don't understand," Tenten rasped.

Shikamaru paused. "He went to Akatsuki Community College, majored in science and chemistry."

Tenten inhaled sharply. She had gone to Akatsuki Community College too. Since her and Subject X's ages were so close together, they would have been in the same year.

"Yeah," Shikamaru nodded. "That was part of the clincher on him. Listen...it's not going to be pretty. Are you sure you're okay?"

_Aburame Shino. January twenty-third nineteen eighty-four. Father killed...mother killed herself...foster home to foster home..._

"Yeah," Tenten lied. "I'm fine."

He nodded. That was one of the best things about Shikamaru – he didn't need to drive things home too much. She'd made her decision, and it was out of his hands now.

He turned and held the door open, gesturing her out. Tenten took a deep breath. She put a mental block up against the feelings of panic and moved out of the door. "How's Ino?" She asked.

"Craving," he replied dryly. "She likes melon bread with beanpaste on top. Followed by a glass of milk with lemon in it."

"That's...disgusting."

"Yup."

She walked besides Shikamaru through the precinct, ignoring the looks of sympathy from her colleagues. She'd been finding it harder and harder to work with them over the years – especially after they realised that Subject X was linked to her. She'd begun to see accusations in their eyes, pity, worry.

She'd felt targeted.

They didn't need to do that. Tenten felt bad enough about it as it was. That was why she had to know.

They paused outside of Room 3, and Tenten took a deep breath and straightened her hair. She didn't know why she bothered – she was wearing no makeup and she looked like shit anyway.

Shikamaru opened the door, and Tenten stepped inside.

He was already dressed in the standard prison-issue dark grey sweats and white t-shirt. The shirt was stretched taut across his broad shoulders as he sat slouched in the chair, his head ducked so that all she could see was the wild spikes of his dark red-brown hair.

Tenten froze, taking another deep breath. He was a man. Just a man.

Hearing her breath, he lifted his head, wraparound glasses covering his eyes. A tiny smile quirked his plump lips.

She looked away quickly, walking over to the interview table. Shikamaru sat down, and she sat next to him. She was grateful for his presence at her side.

She could feel Aburame Shino staring at her. Tenten wanted to look at him – to figure out if she knew him or not. But she couldn't bring herself to look when he was looking right back at her. She felt like she might fall and drown.

Shikamaru pressed a button on the recorder on the side of the table. "This is Detective Chief Inspector Shikamaru and Detective Inspector Tenten, interviewing suspect Aburame Shino on this day, nineteenth of February two-thousand and nine at fifteen hundred hours forty two minutes. Suspect has waived his right to a lawyer."

Tenten looked up. No lawyer?

She met the eyes of her reflection in his sunglasses.

"Aburame Shino," Shikamaru said. "Did you kill Hyuuga Neji?"

Tenten's throat tightened. How could such a question be posed to a man like this? He looked so normal – so unassuming. He had arched eyebrows and smooth, pale skin. His nose was slim and straight, his cheekbones high and striking. But he had the aura of someone who could slip into a crowd and disappear.

"Yes," he replied in a deep, matter-of-fact voice. He leant back in his chair, his hands settled on the table top. His fingers were long – a musician's fingers.

Tenten flinched. Admitted so openly. Without caring.

"Did you kill Hida – " Shikamaru started.

"I killed them all," Shino replied, giving his fingers one quick drum across the table. "Except for the one that got away, of course."

She fought not to shake. She bit her lip against the vomit that rose in the back of her throat. He was still looking at her. Watching her.

"You mean Sai?" Shikamaru cocked a brow. "The one you left in a coma? Do you – "

"Why do you not talk, Tenten?" His voice was rich, smooth – almost seductive, if it didn't come from someone who had just admitted to ruining her life several times over. "It is your opinion...that matters the most."

She stared at him, wide-eyed.

"Why, you ask?" He leant forwards slightly and she leant back, desperate to keep space between them. His lips twitched, and she had the strangest impression that if she could see his eyes, they'd be gentle and warm. "It was for you, Tenten. Everything for you."

"How do you know me?" She whispered, then repeated herself louder for the tape recorder. "You talk like you know me. How do you know me?" It was hard to keep the edge of hysteria out of her voice.

Shino's brow furrowed. His mouth tightened. The air felt tighter, colder. His hands curled into fists. "You do not remember."

Tenten gulped. "Your profile says that you attended Akatsuki Community College at the same time as me. I don't really remember..."

Shino relaxed visibly, as if he was deflating. He tilted his head. "Yes, that was rather a long time ago. I should not expect you to remember...especially when you hated that place so much." He turned his face fully towards her. "You hated every moment there. I do not blame you for that – it was detestable."

She had hated it there. But she'd never said so – never made a word of complaint in her time training towards law enforcement.

"Maybe we should start from the beginning," Shikamaru said, looking between Tenten and Shino. "For the benefit of the tape, I am showing the suspect Exhibit A – a photograph found in his apartment." Shikamaru laid a photograph encased in a polythene sleeve on the table.

Tenten's face drained of blood when she saw that it was a photograph of herself from her years in ACC, with her hair in twin buns and a cute cheerleading uniform. Only one copy of that photograph had ever existed. It had been taken by her boyfriend at the time, the football team's prize jock.

She hadn't seen that photo in years.

It looked immaculate, except for some dark brownish staining along one of the top corners.

She shuddered.

"Exhibit A depicts Detective Inspector Tenten circa 2002 at Akatsuki Community College in a cheerleading uniform," Shikamaru intoned. "How did you get this picture?"

Shino was staring at it, his features soft. "I took it."

"From the quarterback," Shikamaru pushed. "Zaku."

Shino sat back, folding his arms. "You are good at what you do, Detective Chief Inspector."

"Tell me how you took the picture," the cop said, ignoring the killer's compliment.

"Say please," Shino said, his voice frigid.

"Tell us," Tenten almost-whispered, eyeing his clenching fist.

Shino relaxed. "I am rather surprised you have not figured it out, Tenten. You should remember. You were so...close...to Zaku, after all." His tone was conversational, almost monotonous. "I was in science and chemistry at Akatsuki Community College. My classes had an hour's break in between them, and I refused to eat the slop they served in the cafeteria. So I would play my guitar on the roof of the gym building."

Tenten felt something tingling at the edges of her consciousness, something just outside of her reach.

"Zaku was a bully and a boar," Shino murmured, tracing circular patterns on the tabletop. "I have no idea why you dated him, truly, Tenten. But then...your taste never improved very much, did it?"

She blanched.

Shikamaru frowned. "Let's get back to – "

"Zaku found me on the roof, and he and his band of _droogs_," Shino smirked, "snuck up on me. Why? Sport, I suppose. Some people prefer the type of hunting where you take your prey unawares."

"But not you?" Tenten ground out; fighting to keep her mind from the shadows it was trying to wander to.

"Every single one of them saw me coming," Shino said soothingly. "Let me assure you of that now."

She gulped.

"I was too attentive to the music," Shino said, his lips pulling down slightly at the corners. "I did not notice them until Zaku took my guitar." In a flash, his frown turned to amusement. "He had his sheep hold my arms whilst he threatened to break the guitar against the piping. They were so quick to jump to his command, and he wasn't even respectable."

Ahhh. She remembered the guitar now – red, covered in stickers. She couldn't remember the face of the boy it had belonged to, but...

She looked at Shino. So this was him. Back then, she'd lived so casually in the presence of such a person. It was a terrifying thought.

"And then there was you." Shino leant forwards suddenly, as though peering at her. He smelled like cinnamon and soap. "You appeared and you told him to stop. He would not let go of the guitar, and you shoved him." The tiny smile playing at the corners of his mouth twisted into something ugly. "He touched you. He shoved you – you almost fell. It was his biggest mistake. If you had fallen..."

Tenten closed her eyes.

"I got the guitar back. And then, after hours when he was leaving detention, I cornered him in the men's toilets."

Tenten inhaled, wishing there was an open window she could lean out of.

"I knew Zaku quite well," Shino said, nodding. "I only knew him at school, and had never known him before that, but people can be put into categories. They are animals, and as such, they have distinct behaviour patterns. Zaku, like me, grew up an orphan in foster homes." His voice turned quiet, thoughtful. "You learn many things, in foster homes. Things children shouldn't learn."

Tenten dug her fingernails into her knees, fighting off the spasms that tingled through her body. God. _God_.

"Zaku was surprisingly delicate. I could only make educated guesses as to his experiences, but they must have been accurate. He cried in a very effeminate manner as I beat him." He paused. "I heard that he was unconscious for days. Perhaps I was more heavy-handed than I had originally intended. It was rather messy."

"The photo?" Shikamaru asked.

Shino jerked his head in Shikamaru's direction. "I took it. From Zaku's satchel. He would not be needing it anymore."

"Weren't you worried that he'd tell?" Tenten said, her voice quavering.

"No," Shino said, and snorted softly. "After what I had told him about himself, and what I could do to him with incentive, he knew that he was better off remaining silent. He had at least one brain cell, after all."

"He never did tell," Tenten said sadly. "He turned into a shell after that, you know that?"

"I am not surprised," Shino said. "But I did not know that. I had no reason to know that."

"Someone fingered you as a possible suspect," Shikamaru said. "But you were released because there was no solid evidence against you, and the school guidance counsellor couldn't see anything wrong with you."

Tenten could hear the incredulity in his voice – Aburame Shino was clearly mad.

"Charm is the biggest lie," Shino stated.

"Apparently so," Shikamaru frowned. "Our psychologists have found plenty wrong with you."

"Yes."

"You've been stalking Detective Inspector Tenten for almost seven years."

"Stalking is an ugly word," Shino balked, his shoulders squaring. "I have been watching over her." He turned his head her way, and Tenten felt the urge to start crying. What did she do to deserve this? How had it come to this?

"Why?" Shikamaru asked.

"She was so...good. Pure, almost. She was like an angel lost in hell. I wanted to help her – protect her." Shino paused. "I wanted to be with her all the time. I still do."

Tenten tensed. She didn't want to hear more of this. She couldn't take it. "You knew my every move," she said. "You had to have done."

"I watched you," he nodded. "Especially after you moved to the neighbourhood in Oto. What were you thinking, Tenten?" His brow furrowed, his voice berating. "Dangerous people live there."

"I doubt any of them were worse than you," she spat. How dare he? How dare he show this freakish concern when he'd spied on her, done such horrible things in her name?

He laughed then – the sound was strange, as if it was unnatural for him. Something he'd never done before. "There was much worse than me. You shared your bed with some of them."

"You – " She snapped, only to stop as Shikamaru pinched her knee under the table. This wouldn't do. She had to stay calm. Shino watched her, his face showing almost childish curiosity.

"You 'watched over' Tenten," Shikamaru nodded. "Tell me about Hidan."

Shino's lip curled. "Hidan was a pig."

"Care to elaborate?" Shikamaru muttered dryly.

Tenten had a feeling that she knew where this was going. If he'd really watched her...if everything he'd said about her, his _obsession_ with her, then that meant –

"They were all placeholders," Shino said, crossing his legs at the ankles and leaning back. In the bare-bulb room, his face looked tallow. "So long as they made her happy, I was willing to...tolerate them...for as long as it took."

"For what?"

"For me," he replied, sounding amused. "Perhaps not as smart as I thought, Detective Chief Inspector."

"Troublesome. I don't speak crazy," Shikamaru said under his breath.

"That is not your judgement to make," Shino said.

"Did you honestly believe that after you'd killed your way through her lovers, she'd want to be with you?" Shikamaru asked, not bothering to hide his disbelief.

"Killing them had not entered my mind at the time," Shino shrugged, his fingers drumming over the tabletop again in one quick roll. "And so long as Tenten was happy..." he looked at her, and she was grateful for his glasses. "...I would not step in."

"So what did Hidan do?" Shikamaru sighed, leaning back in his chair. Tenten grimaced, and looked down at the tabletop.

"He was never a good match for Tenten from the beginning," Shino said. "He was coarse, rude, vain. Brutish. I did not approve of him, and I wished for Tenten to notice his many flaws. And they were many." He chuckled quietly.

"And then?"

"He hit her."

Shikamaru jerked his head round to look at Tenten, and Shino's hands tightened into fists.

"Tenten?" Shikamaru asked. She squeezed her eyes shut. She knew, as an officer of the law, she should have reported it. Done something. But she'd cared about Hidan – had hoped it would be a one-off mistake.

Maybe it would have been.

"He hit her, without regard to consequence or feelings or _bruises_," Shino's voice slipped into a growl. "He hit her, and never even apologised."

"It was an accident," Tenten whispered.

"So is most involuntary manslaughter," Shino reasoned. "Most of those criminals end up in jail, do they not?"

"Are you in any position to talk?" Tenten hissed, glaring at him.

"Certainly," Shino replied, tilting his head at her. "I am in the best position to talk. Except that my case is simply homicide. I will still go to jail for it. I will still hang for it."

"How can you say those things so calmly?" Tenten breathed, her eyes misting.

"They are facts. My feelings would not change them, whether I cared or not."

Shikamaru swallowed. "We believed it was a gangland killing – Hidan was involved with some unsavoury guys."

"It was unfortunate," Shino agreed, frowning. "Were he not affiliated with them, perhaps I might have been noticed sooner."

"You _wanted_ to be noticed?"

"Was that not obvious?" Eyebrows rose.

"Well, the general idea is to try and get away with murder." Shikamaru shifted in his chair, looking restless. Tenten didn't know where to look anymore. She felt too afraid to look at Shino.

"That would achieve nothing."

"I don't get you."

"I never expected you would."

"You disembowelled Hidan," Tenten said quietly. She looked up, meeting the lenses of Shino's glasses.

"Yes."

"Why...why _that_?"

"Truly? I was not thinking very much at the time." He looked abashed. "I was so angry with him – with what he had done. I could only think of hurting him, of making him pay. In retrospect, it was an appropriate end – he was a dishonourable pig, and so I killed him like a dishonourable pig."

Tenten fought down a gag.

"His stomach was like butter," Shino mused, his voice faraway. "He had a glass jaw, too. I wonder if that was what he felt when he hit a woman? When he hit you?" He clenched his fists.

"You left no prints," Shikamaru noted. "If you wanted to be caught, why didn't you leave prints?"

"Why would I make it too easy for you?" Shino retorted.

Tenten was thinking of Hidan. Of his winning smile and devilish violet eyes. Of the muscles, his obsession with bodybuilding...that had done nothing to save him against this lunatic. He'd fallen easily. Because of his stupid mistake.

"So even after that, you watched her," Shikamaru pressed. "If you were this obsessed with her – why didn't you do the usual? Dress up as a pizza delivery boy, a gas man?"

"Those moments would have been insignificant, meaningless." He sounded affronted. "I would have wanted to meet her...talk to her...on a platform where she can truly understand the extent of what I have done."

"I understand all right," Tenten choked.

"Not yet," Shino replied. "We still have time."

"Deidara," Shikamaru said. "An ice sculpture artist, Tenten's next deceased partner. Tell me about him."

"He was pathetic," Shino muttered. "He never committed. You remember, do you not, Tenten? The way he strung you along, as if your heart were no more than a toy?" He looked at her beseechingly, even with his blacked out shades covering most of the expression. "He played with you, toyed with you – as if he could find _better_."

She remembered Deidara. He'd been cute, flighty – and honestly, he'd been eccentric enough that she'd never had high hopes for more than a few rolls in the hay.

And look where it had ended up.

"I decided to leave him hanging," Shino declared, "just as he left you hanging."

Tenten stared at him, her chest hurting.

"I balanced him on one of his ice sculptures, his neck in a noose hanging from the rafters of his studio. I explained to him all of the reasons he was going to die. He didn't take it very well." The killer raised his eyebrows in an 'oh well' fashion. "Eventually, the ice melted. There was no quick drop and snap, of course – he had to dangle there and asphyxiate to death. It looked unpleasant."

Shikamaru squeezed her hand under the table. Tenten forced back her tears. She looked up to see Shino watching her, sympathy on his face. It made her stomach drop.

"You know," he said. "Your older man...Kakashi...he was the only one I ever regretted."

Tenten couldn't wrap her head around it. What made Kakashi so special?

"It was a mutual fling, was it not?" He continued, his lips pursing with thought. "Fun for both of you – nothing serious, no strings attached. I realise that now. Yet at the time...he was like another Deidara. I was so angry – so angry that you could be deceived by the same trick twice. And I was so angry that a lover would attempt to do that to you twice."

"I can't believe this," Tenten whispered.

"It was a jealous rage," Shino rambled, shaking his head. "I am sorry for that – more sorry than you could know. He saw me – he asked me who I was, directly before I shot him in the neck with eight-hundred milligrams of ketamine. His heart was weak – I knew that. It took him moments to die."

Tenten was shaking now.

"I am glad...it was quick." He moved as though to try and take her hand, and then apparently thought better of it.

"That doesn't make it right," Shikamaru growled.

"I know."

"You talk like it excuses you."

"I have implied no such thing. I know I am beyond saving. Do not take me for a fool."

"You realise it was Kakashi that made us realise the pattern, right? That made us start searching for you?"

"It took you long enough," Shino said grimly. "Perhaps Kakashi's death was not in vain."

"You're sick, Aburame."

"It takes a monster to do what the man cannot, Detective Chief Inspector."

"Sai lived," Tenten said suddenly. "Why did Sai live?"

"A mistake," Shino said simply. "The one that got away."

"You beat him," Shikamaru nodded. "Like Zaku."

"I never intended to kill Zaku. I wished to kill Sai," Shino said. "He was crude and insulting and had no idea how to treat a woman. Unfortunately, I only managed to cause brain damage with the baseball bat. It is not the weapon movies make it out to be."

"_Unfortunately_?" Shikamaru's jaw dropped. "He might never wake up – he lives on a fucking _machine_. And you're saying _unfortunately_?"

"Please refrain from such language. There is no need to debase the situation further. And there is a lady present."

Tenten stared at him. What made a man like this? Surely even the things he'd hinted at....the things she'd heard...couldn't cause this. So much psychological damage, so many deaths as collateral. How was he such a mix of insanity and genius and hot and cold and –

How could he look at her like that?

"I'm not even special," she said in a small voice.

"_Never_ say that," he replied lowly.

Silence reigned for a few moments, and they simply looked at each other. Their lives had been tied together for seven years. Everything he had done, he had done in _her_ name. Every time she'd attended a funeral, cried until her eyes couldn't take it anymore, felt like she couldn't live on...it had been _his_ shadow hanging over her.

She'd been a cop for a long time, damn it. Why hadn't she been able to stop this when they'd realised what was happening? _Why_?

"Hyuuga Neji," Shikamaru said, and flung a polythene bag onto the table. "For the record of the tape, I am showing the suspect Exhibit B – an empty bottle of Warfarin and a syringe."

Shino's lips quirked. "This was how you caught me."

"Yes," Shikamaru growled. Tenten could see in his face that he had had enough.

"Tell me how," Shino urged.

Shikamaru paused. Tenten could see the thoughts whirring behind his eyes. Then he took a deep breath. "Hyuuga Neji kept his heart valvular disease secret from everyone – including his parents, who would disinherit him if they believed he wouldn't survive long enough to nourish their estate."

Tenten paled. She hadn't known. How had she been living with him and never known? She hadn't even found out about it in the investigation, because they'd only just let her rejoin it after demanding that she take a breather.

"He thought it was a weakness – he didn't want pity, didn't want it affecting his life. It was his biggest secret. Well..." Shikamaru said. "That...and the fact that he was gay."

Tenten hung her head. That had been an awful thing to find out after her lover was dead. She'd known their love life had fizzled out quickly. That he stayed with her mainly out of some form of obligation. And she, like the terrified, hunted girl she was – haunted by the deaths of her previous partners – had clung to what he could offer. Never knowing that he was screwing other guys.

"He was so desperate not to be disinherited," Shino agreed. "He did not care who he harmed with his lies and half-truths."

"It's on record at ACC," Shikamaru said, "that a teacher caught him with the bottle and called him to the front of the class to discuss it. It was on school records, but teachers weren't personally briefed. It was procedure, pure and simple. But it drew attention. And a few _interested _students could have seen the bottle."

Shino was full-out grinning now, and it was horrific – a harlequin's grin.

"It seemed a longshot, that anyone would remember a detail like that," Shikamaru said. "But we knew our killer was careful, very smart, very cautious. He'd evaded us like a genius – incredible, since you're saying you _wanted_ to be caught."

Shino sighed. Tenten stared at him incredulously.

"So I checked back to that incident, trying to hunt down the people who would know about the Warfarin. That incident was on record. I checked the records for other unusual incidents to happen in the years Tenten was at ACC. I came across the counsellor's report from the Zaku incident. It just so happened that Aburame Shino was in Hyuuga Neji's class."

Shino rolled his head, cracking his neck. "Beautiful in its simplicity, Detective Chief Inspector. Though I do not doubt you regret not picking up on me sooner."

"It was impossible," Shikamaru snapped. "You were anal retentive in your care. You never left a damn trace."

"I suppose I was too good at what I did," Shino hummed.

"You overdosed him on Warfarin," Tenten gulped. "You shot him full of anti-coagulant and then bled him out from little cuts. Because he was sleeping with men."

"He was a liar and a filthy cheat, regardless of his sexual orientation," Shino said, his voice coaxing. She tensed as he removed his glasses and squinted her, his eyes the brightest shade of amber she'd ever seen. "Tenten, you deserve so much better. You have never seen your own value – that is why I have to show you."

"Show me?!" Tenten stood up quickly. "Those people are never going to live again, because of me! Because of you! How could you?" She yelled.

"I love you," Shino breathed, searching her eyes.

Vomit rose in the back of her throat. All her fault. This was all her fault.

Shikamaru watched, eyes wide with horror.

"I know what you are thinking," Shino said quickly. "I know this must be...hard...for you to take in. Believe me when I say I wanted to be here. I could never have met you otherwise – I know that. It was never my right. I could never have touched...an angel."

Tenten shook.

"I did what I could. Why? It was all I had."

A tear slipped down her cheek.

"You're on Death Row for this," Shikamaru choked out, pale. "You realise that right? You're going to _die_."

"I know," Shino replied, his golden eyes sombre. "It was inevitable. To see her." He looked up at Tenten. "Everything...for you."

"Shikamaru," she said, tears in her voice. "Go get the guards to take him away."

"But – "

"I'll be fine," Tenten growled. "Please. Do it."

Shikamaru backed out of the interview room, and Tenten waited until the door closed. Usually, guards would be posted by the door – but they'd been short-staffed lately, with the latest bouts of flu, and guards were all over the station.

"You're going to die," she said, looking at him.

"Yes," he nodded.

"Why would you do that? For someone you don't even know?"

"Ahhh, but I know you well," Shino said with a wan smile. "Better than you know yourself."

All for her. _All for her_.

"Tenten?"

She stared at him.

"Kiss me?" He rose slowly. "Think of it as...my last request."

Tenten swallowed, her throat dry. Her eyes were wide – her limbs heavy.

"It is all I have ever wanted," he continued, smiling. "The epilogue to my life."

"How can you?" She breathed. "How can you say you love me when you do this?"

"Love is not only about possessing something, Tenten."

She sobbed softly, tears spilling over her face. He was going to die for his crimes. He was going to end a life – a young life – with its remaining years lived entirely for her.

Shakily, Tenten pressed her tear-dampened lips against his, trying not to flinch when he sighed against her mouth. He felt soft – so soft, so human. The way he melted against her made her heart hurt. He was broken – he was broken, but the pieces still had such a human shape. He could have been beautiful if he'd stayed –

He pressed five small, distinctive kisses against her lips. One for every time it _should have been him_. He moved his lips away from hers and rested his chin on top of her head. "My only regret," he said in a thick voice, "is that I will not be around to protect you anymore."

She shook, her tears flowing faster.

"I will have to trust your instincts now," he said. "I have given you a glimpse of what humans will do to each other. So that you will not need someone to watch you."

Shino stepped away from her as the guards and Shikamaru stepped in. They cuffed him, their movements rough. Shino didn't complain, his eyes never leaving hers. The soft smile never left his lips, even as they dragged him out of the interview room to his last home.

Tenten sank to the concrete floor and cried.


	11. Unholy Matrimony

_DISCLAIMER: I don't own Naruto, I just play with the characters._

_MISC: **PLEASE READ**. This is **LostsoulofRegret**'s kiriban prompt. Now, I'm gonna come clean right away. The prompt I was given was very tough, in that it's hard to work into an IC situation. It involved a double date scenario with ShinoTen and either NaruSaku or ShikaIno. I couldn't think of any plausible and IC way to make a full-out double date scenario happen without there being flimsy excuses. So I'm afraid I had to cash in on a mission to bring about a double date scenario._

_This fic...was gruelling to write, because a lot had to be covered in it. It went from double date scenario to huge, epic oneshot trying to span a little too much. I just couldn't see any other way to make the prompt work and keep everyone IC. _

_So here it is. I know it stretches the prompt a little, but trust me when I say that every other angle failed._

_And as a quick note - Tenten is wearing heels rather than geta because she's in a Chinese cheongsam dress. I can't imagine geta with a cheongsam, so she gets to wear heels instead._

_The line about 'the itch' was lifted from Lost in Austen, because it fit too well!_

_**KIRIBAN:** The next kiriban is at 150 reviews. Whoever gets the kiriban will receive a PM from myself letting them know they've got it, and they can pick the prompt for the next oneshot. _

**TITLE:** Unholy Matrimony

**PAIRINGS:** ShinoTen

**RATING:** PG-13

**GENRE:** Romance/Slight humour

* * *

"So...you remember what you are to do?"

Tenten huffed softly and readjusted her roseate cheongsam. She held her fan in front of her and fixed Shino with what she hoped was good bearing and ladylike charm. It wasn't hard to be this dressed up. She'd had to be 'tarted up' for missions before, though Shino hadn't appreciated her saying so when she'd explained it to him.

"That is hardly the term for it," he'd said, and he'd actually _sniffed_ at her. "You are dressing to impress, and I recommend you accommodate all areas of your manner to follow suit. Why? This must be convincing."

Tenten had told herself not to be offended, but it had gradually gotten more and more difficult _not to be_, as Shino's instruction in formal and upper class behaviour began to seem more and more like a slight on Tenten's own manners and behaviour.

And the damned man was so pedantic about it.

"No," he had almost snapped when Tenten practised walking in her stupidly high stilettos. "Glide forwards from the hip – do you wish to resemble a baboon?"

He had apologised for his irritation later, and Tenten had grudgingly understood how hard it must be to teach someone something which came as naturally to you as breathing. It didn't, however, change her growing feelings of inadequacy. Especially since the more she had to sleep next to him in the same bed, and the more time she spent in his company...she found herself starting to like Aburame Shino very much.

When he wasn't being a snotty bastard, anyway.

It was just a little difficult to pretend that he was her husband. It was commonplace in Yuki that recently married couples be presented to the daimyou for blessings. And their mission target – a man with suspected plans to murder some high-ranking political figures – had a taste for married women, it was only natural to pose as married couples. The target had intimate knowledge of Yukigakure ninja and in a bid to strengthen relations with Konoha, it had been thought best to send Konoha shinobi to catch the suspect.

Tenten found it a very hard mission. Her mind had strayed often in the midst of her training. Would Shino have been this fussy about her etiquette on a personal basis? Did he find her manners to be very lacking? Did he silently criticise her every time he looked at her?

She was surprised how much the idea hurt her.

"I have to act like a lady," Tenten said, fighting to keep the exasperation from her voice. She allowed herself a moment to slip her eyes over him.

The forest green kimono he wore was stunning. Even with the glasses he wore (the daimyou had agreed to vouch for his 'eye condition' as part of their mission), he looked like such a regal gentleman that Tenten was beginning to doubt herself.

She tore her eyes away from him, flushing. Had he caught her staring? She hoped not. She raised a hand to scratch her burning cheeks.

"Stop," Shino said, swatting her with his own fan.

"I have an itch!" Tenten protested.

"Ladies are strangers to 'the itch'," Shino replied, with such a serious expression that it was an effort for her not to burst out laughing.

Tenten covered her mouth with her fan. She wondered which 'itch' he meant.

Shino must have taken her watery eyes and coy use of the fan to mean something different. His expression softened. "Do not concern yourself too much, Tenten. I apologise for my pushiness on the matter – I often get carried away on missions." His small smile was self-deprecating and far too handsome on his mostly exposed face. She raised the fan a little higher to hide her blush.

"I'll try my best," she replied, trying for optimism and getting breathiness instead.

Shino offered her his arm. "Let us go and find Shikamaru and Ino."

Tenten looped her arm into his, falling into step besides him. She'd finally gotten the hang of wearing the stilettos – had even devised several ways in which they could be used as projectiles in a desperate situation. When she'd told Shino as much, he'd shaken his head. Though she was sure she hadn't imagined the small smirk on his face.

"You look...beautiful," Shino said. Tenten's eyes snapped to his face, finding him facing straight ahead. A faint flush covered his high cheekbones.

"So do you," Tenten replied – a little too emphatically. He jerked his head towards her. "Handsome, I mean. Very. Um..."

"...thank you."

_Well, that was awkward_, Tenten thought. _Something tells me I'm not going to survive tonight._

* * *

The shouchu the daimyou served was pretty good, Tenten thought blearily. Almost soon as they'd been escorted to their table after being presented to the daimyou, Tenten had resorted to downing copious amounts of the beverage to block out Shino's constant corrections of her posture and Shikamaru and Ino's jibes at each other.

"I hate you, you lazy slob."

"The feeling's mutual."

Well, Tenten thought. This had to be the most interesting double date she'd ever had.

"I wish you would just die."

"I wish you'd smoke my pole."

"WHAT?!"

Okay. It was the only double date she'd ever had, and she wasn't sure it even counted as a double date, since the mission kind of dictated that the foursome pretend to be married couples.

None of them were achieving the guise very well – a bad thing, since the target was seated only tables away and staring directly at Tenten herself. He was handsome, in a generic way, with oiled-back hair and oily eyes to match. He had been moving between couples with feline grace, until his attention had landed on their table.

She had heard that he liked a challenge – he liked to break up good marriages. Maybe this meant that she and Shino were really giving off the impression of being in love.

Tenten snorted.

She fanned herself with her ivory fan, her flesh heated by alcohol. Maybe she'd had a little too much to drink. It didn't help that the young daimyou – not a winter over twenty-six and very pleasing to the eye – kept refilling her cup. Perhaps he thought that as a ninja, she'd have a better threshold for alcohol. Actually, it was one of her weaknesses.

Tenten knew that she should discourage the daimyou's less-than-innocent attentions – it was derogative to her mission, technically. And yet the build-up of frustration she felt towards Shino – oddly, the fact that he was acting like the perfect husband was making things worse – was making her impulsive. Shino was attentive – his voice soft. His every touch and smile was aimed at her. It was everything she could have hoped for.

But it was all an act. And the part of her that was a woman, not a kunoichi, felt like crying.

It was childish, and she knew it. But she wanted more than his fake smiles and fake caresses. She wanted jealousy.

Well – with her playing up to the daimyou's flirtations, Shino was certainly sulking. She doubted it was jealousy – no, Shino would never stoop to that, she thought bitterly. More likely he was changing his mind about her having 'tarted up'. He probably thought her a tart in every sense of the word now.

"As if I'd want to, you filthy jerk – "

"As if I'd let you, troublesome woman."

Tenten watched Ino's eyes flash angrily as her broad, overly saccharine smile trembled with the sheer effort of upholding it. The blond held a spoonful of kakigori to Shikamaru's mouth, the intent to ram the spoon into _another_ orifice clear on her face.

The daimyou refilled her cup. "So, Matsumoto-san," he began, and it took Tenten's addled mind a moment to remember that she was meant to be Matsumoto Ai. "Where did you meet your husband?"

The daimyou was, of course, merely helping to cement their cover. But Tenten decided to revel in his flirtatious tone nonetheless – it was so rare to be flirted with, and she needed a bit of joy after the disastrous company she'd been forced into.

Tenten beamed at the daimyou, calling to mind the story Shino had premeditated for them. "Not very exciting, I'm afraid," Tenten said in an admissive tone. She leant in conspiratorially, enjoying the musky scent of the daimyou but enjoying Shino's quick frown more. "We were introduced by friends in our village in Grass and grew to know each other better over time."

"Quaintly romantic," the daimyou said.

Tenten giggled. "Were you expecting a 'whipped the damsel off of her feet' story?" She exaggeratedly fluttered her fan in front of her face. "I'm sorry to disappoi – "

Her fingers slipped on the fan, sending it sideways to embed itself in the wooden latticing of the shoji walls.

Her mouth opened in a small 'o' of surprise. The daimyou quickly distracted the attention of those who may have seen her little slip, and Tenten watched with a red face as Shino's kikkai discreetly brought the fan away from the wood and back to her hands.

"Nice," Ino snorted, covering her mouth with her hand to hide her giggles.

"As amusing as your ability to turn anything into a weapon is," Shino intoned in a low, tight voice, "I should remind you to be discreet and not abuse the shouchu. We are on a mission."

"Yes," Tenten replied, flushing. She gave him a winning smile, her eyes drawn to the pale planes of his face. It was difficult to stay mad at him, especially when inebriation made her realise that she _really_ wanted him. "I'm sorry, Shouji."

Shino paused. "Are you alright, Ai?"

"Of course," she replied. "Though I wish...Tokunaga-san and his wife would stop their arguing."

Shino pursed his lips, and then smiled softly. He leant in, so that to any observer it would look like he was whispering sweet nothings. His breath brushed her ear. "If they continue this, they will cause trouble for us."

Tenten looked over to where Ino and Shikamaru were holding hands so tightly that it looked like they were waiting to see who would break bones first. Maybe the idea to swap partners had been a bad idea? No, it had definitely been a good idea to swap.

Ino's reaction to the idea of Shino being her faux husband hadn't been the most heart-warming one. If they'd continued pretending to act like a married couple, it would have seemed to the public at large to be one of those abusive relationships with Ino flinching at every touch.

Tenten knew it had everything to do with Ino's fear of bugs and nothing to do with any personal issue. But that didn't change the necessities of the mission, and it hadn't changed the fact that Tenten was sure Shino had taken offence at Ino's screams.

No, Tenten herself had been content with the idea of Shino pretending to be her husband – had evaded Ino's near embolism with a quick "No, he's _my_ husband" that had surprised the other three in the group.

"At least no one else here seems to suspect anything," Tenten muttered under her breath, looking around. She gulped down some more shouchu and sighed, feeling it go straight to her head.

"Be a good boy, _Ren_," Ino sneered at Shikamaru. "Or would you like me to tell the other guests at our table about how you can't get it up at night?"

"Shut up, In – Eriko," Shikamaru corrected, but his face darkened with a flush and his slip said it all.

Tenten choked on her shouchu. No way. No freaking way!

"He says he was drunk," Ino told her, rolling her eyes. "I bet he's into guys. This is a gay pity marriage, you know."

Tenten, more than a little tipsy, slapped a hand to her mouth to keep from laughing.

"_Eriko_, shut the hell up," Shikamaru hissed. "I told you – "

"Be quiet, both of you," Shino snapped. "Are you not aware there are others at this table? Keep your personal lives to yourselves."

Shikamaru had the good grace to look cowed, though Ino simply snorted and poured herself some shouchu.

Shino suddenly leant in closer to her, his arm winding around her waist and his lips brushing against her temple. Tenten blinked, sending him a bewildered smile. What was that for? It had seemed so sudden, so –

"Enjoying the evening?"

Oh. Tenten looked up and saw the target standing by their table. His eyes scanned the entire table but landed back on her with a snap. He had a nice grin – very unsuspecting and clean-cut.

"Yes, thank you," Shino replied with a small smile, his thumb stroking Tenten's hip. She leaned into him. "You are...?"

"Aikawa Kuninobu," the target said, bowing. "Unmarried, unfortunately, but here for the celebrations as the job dictates. And with whom do I have the pleasure?"

"Matsumoto Shouji," Shino said, bowing back as best as the table would allow. "And this is my wife, Ai." From the way his arm tightened around her waist, Tenten knew that Shino had caught Aikawa's attentiveness to her. Across the table, Shikamaru and Ino watched. Ino's eyebrow was raised – apparently, she was surprised that Tenten had caught the target's attention rather than her.

Tenten was surprised too. Ino was much better at being a noble lady than her.

"What job demands that you attend parties with free alcohol?" Shino asked jestingly, raising a cup of shouchu to the man.

Aikawa laughed. "I serve in the daimyou's personal militia."

"You are his bodyguard?"

"In a manner of speaking," Aikawa said, his eyes flicking to Tenten. "Bodyguard implies a bit more importance, though."

He obviously thought he _was_ important – the way he wore his clothing and his manner all spoke of someone proud to the point of arrogance. Even half-drunk, Tenten could feel the man's ego oozing off of him like sap from a tree.

"I am sure you are important," Tenten said, smiling – but leaning in closer to Shino in the hopes that one action would cancel out the other. "Everyone has their role, no?"

Aikawa studied her – a very masculine, slow study that left her equally flustered and revolted. "That is very true. Matsumoto-san, my lady...I must attend to business. I bid you a good evening." As he walked off, he cast a look back at Tenten that made her nerves jingle.

"What a creep," Ino muttered.

"Yeah," Tenten agreed readily.

"Yes," Shino corrected.

Tenten mimed stabbing him with her chopsticks.

The evening wore on in much the same way, though Ino and Shikamaru's comments were much more infrequent. Shino continued to act the attentive husband and every now and then his lips would slip over her cheek or her forehead – most likely when he knew Aikawa was looking their way.

It was getting too much for Tenten to handle, and before she knew it, she had imbibed almost a whole bottle of shouchu by herself.

It was getting unbearably hot in the hall. With a muttered excuse, Tenten rose and headed for the door, realising that her earned grace on the heels didn't really apply when she was drunk. She nearly fell through the paper walls before righting herself and stepping out into the cool night.

Thick snow coated the ground, but a salty grit mixture had kept the walkways clear for people to walk through without difficulty. The moonlight and paper lanterns cast twinkles off of the white blanket, and a fine sheen of snow continued to fall – so fine that it was almost invisible.

Tenten breathed in the cool air and let it wash over her. She had never been this drunk in her life – it was a cloying, overheated and sickly feeling that started from the bottom of her gut and constricted her throat. It wasn't pleasant – not like some of the people she'd known had made it out to be. The way it made her head spin and feel out of control was scary.

She leant back against the wall and closed her eyes.

She'd lost count of the amount of times he'd touched her, kissed her cheek. She'd lost count of the amount of times it had stabbed her in the heart, because none of it was real.

She didn't know exactly when these feelings had sprung up, but they'd sprung up strong and fast. It had made every hint of annoyance, every touch, every evasive movement in their shared bed hurt her that much more.

Tenten still felt her throat clog up when she remembered the night she'd tried to convince Shino to take his coats off when getting into the bed with her. The wrestling match that had ensued had ended up with her pinned against the wall by her wrists, his face mere inches from hers.

She'd stared at him, bewitched by the flush on his cheeks and his heavy breathing. And then he'd jerked away from her, grabbing his shoes and storming out of the room as if she had said a terrible insult.

Tenten cringed and looked up at the moon. She would be glad for the end of this mission. It would end her embarrassment and the stupid hope she clung to that Shino might like her back.

Standing straight, Tenten nearly fell forwards into the snow. She giggled, putting a hand to her forehead. Silly, silly her. She should have taken Sakura up on her offer to learn an alcohol-clearing jutsu. She hadn't thought she'd need it – which went to show that she wasn't very good at preparation.

"All alone?"

In her slow, fuzzy state, Tenten didn't even notice Aikawa until he was directly in front of her, his cold blue eyes alight with amusement.

"Oh...Aikawa-san. I didn't hear you..." Had alcohol really dulled her senses that much?

"You seem to have had a little too much to drink," he teased, looking her up and down. "Don't you know your limits, Matsumoto-san?"

"I rarely drink," Tenten admitted, sheepish. She was hazy enough to not fully know what was going on, but something about his expression made the hairs on the back of her neck stand up. "I've never had the chance to find out my limits."

"Doesn't your husband let you drink very often?" Aikawa asked. His eyes had yet to leave her.

"Sh...ouji lets me do whatever I like," she replied. "Within reason."

"I see." His grin grew.

"Uh, I'm sorry, Aikawa-san," Tenten mumbled, her tongue heavy from the shouchu. "I need to get back to my hus – "

"You and Matsumoto-san are quite in love," Aikawa interrupted, cocking his head at her. He took an aggressive step forwards, forcing Tenten's back against the building. "I find it admirable."

"Thanks," she said. Although her mind screamed that he was the 'target', she couldn't quite remember what target or what she was meant to do. The part of her that recognised the man was too spliced with her thoughts of Shino to make anything coherent of her thoughts.

Aikawa boxed her in with his arms, sending panic alarms off in her head. "It's always the ones who are in love the most who fall the hardest, don't you think?" He leant in closer, smelling of over-priced aftershave and shouchu.

"Please, I have to get back to my husband," Tenten mumbled, trying to ease herself out of the cage of his arms. The need to get back to Shino was becoming clearer and clearer in her mind.

Aikawa shoved her back against the building and ground against her, pressing his very obvious intentions into her stomach. "I can't do that, Ai-chan."

"G-go find some other man's wife to harass," Tenten gulped, the first twinges of real fear stirring within her at the feel of him.

He licked a line along the side of her neck, pinning her easily despite her struggles. "Oh, I will," he said with a smile. One of his hands wandered up her leg to shift her dress higher up on her thigh.

"Stop it!" She hissed.

"You'll enjoy this soon enough – they always do. And then once I'm done with you, I'll move on to another wife – and then another wife." He snickered. He pressed his mouth against her neck, and Tenten tried to knee him in the stomach – the alcohol causing her to miss him by millimetres. "When I'm daimyou, I'll be able to get all the wives I want – right in front of me, at this ceremony, just waiting to be picked out."

"Y-you think you'd be daimyou?" Tenten rambled – clutching onto anything she could to try and distract him.

"Of course," Aikawa replied. "As soon as I've killed the old one."

Tenten went rigid.

"Thank you for your confession."

The man abandoned her and whipped around – freezing in place when he faced Shino, whose face was as closed off and cold as the snow around them. Shino raised his hand and plucked a small recording device from his ear, holding it up for Aikawa to see.

"It will come in use when we turn you over to the Yuki authorities," Shino continued. "Perhaps you should have rethought your rashness."

Aikawa snarled – he went to dart forward, but found himself held in place. Tenten saw Shikamaru over by the entrance to the hall, holding the target with his Shadow jutsu, Ino standing just behind him at the ready. She'd never been more relieved to see her companions in her life.

"Tie him up and take him to the daimyou," Shino ordered. Tenten was sure that he was looking at her, and not in a happy way. "I need to speak with Tenten."

His face was set in hard, annoyed lines. In this snowy landscape, with his aristocratic good looks, Tenten decided that he was the most gorgeous thing she had ever seen.

Shino strode forwards, grasping Tenten's wrist. "Come," he snapped, and dragged her off towards the inn they were staying at. When she stumbled in her heels and whined about not being able to keep up, the Aburame simply flung her over his shoulder and walked her the rest of the way.

By the time they reached their room, Tenten had barely been able to hold back from throwing up all over his back. She nearly gave into the impulse to be sick when Shino flung her onto the bed and gave a frustrated growl – a sound so foreign to him that she blearily wondered if she'd imagined it.

"What were you thinking?" He demanded, his brows drawn down. "It could have jeopardised everything. Your carelessness could have cost everything, Tenten!" He paced up and down.

Tenten could hear him talking, but didn't really take in what he was saying.

"Do you realise how you have behaved for the entirety of this mission?" Shino asked, stepping up in front of her. "Do you realise how difficult this has been? You could have been harmed, Tenten! You could have – "

"I hear you talking," Tenten slurred, "but I'm not getting the words." She grabbed the front of his kimono and yanked him down onto the bed.

"Tenten – " His words were cut off by a sharp gasp as she clambered onto his lap. He felt warm – for some reason that surprised her. Maybe because he always acted so cut off and chilly.

She grabbed at the folds of his kimino. "S'much as I think you're gorgeous as hell with this on, I think you'd look better with it off." Why hadn't she said this to him before now, she wondered? The way he blushed was so cute!

"Tenten, you do not – "

"Shhh, lemme help," she said, her alcohol-numbed hands fumbling with getting his kimono off. She clumsily bared one of his shoulders, her eyes locking on to the pale skin. "Aha!"

"Tenten, you are drunk," Shino gasped out, his breathing quickened. "I do not think you should – !"

Tenten pressed her mouth against his skin, flicking her tongue against it to test the taste. She couldn't describe it if she tried, but the feel of his skin against her mouth and tongue was too much to resist.

She trailed her lips along his collarbone, stopping every now and then to sweep her tongue over him. He hissed, his fingers clutching her hips and tightening when she rocked herself over him.

"Tastes so good," she mumbled heatedly, her thoughts spinning. "Better'n...I thought...dreamt about..."

Her mouth slid along the column of his neck, her hands wandering down his chest, over his nipple, and down to pause at the fine hairs leading down from his navel.

"...dreamt about...you being in me..."

Shino tensed – she felt his pulse jump beneath her lips. He felt so good – his heat, his smell – he was overwhelming with how –

Tenten moaned and fell against him, the alcohol finally pulling her down into blackness.

* * *

Tenten woke in a tangle with her mouth hanging wide open. The first thing she realised was that her head hurt like a bitch. The second thing she realised was that her cheongsam wasn't very comfortable to sleep in.

She groaned and tried to untwist herself, wondering why her pillow felt so firm. Daylight was far too bright for her eyes to take in, especially when her headache was threatening to split her head in two. Tenten tried to figure out why she felt like crap.

She'd gone to the ceremony, with Shino as her husband.

Ahh. She'd drank a lot of shouchu.

Where was Shino?

Tenten lifted her head, groaning in pain, and found out exactly where Shino was.

A very irritable Aburame frowned at her from his position on his back, half-entangled in his kimono and trapped under her body.

Oops.

"Shino? How did you get there?" Tenten asked, squinting at him.

He stared at her. "You do not even remember." He snorted derisively. "Wonderful."

"Remember what?" Tenten frowned. "My head really hurts."

"Of course it does. You drank yourself into stupidity."

She flinched, looking at him. He looked really annoyed with her. Whatever she had done in the blank gap in her memory had to have been bad. He wouldn't even keep his face turned in her direction.

Hurt and anger filled her. Tenten scrambled off of him and off of the bed, stumbling onto her wobbly legs. "What's your problem?" She demanded. "You've been acting like a PMSing teenage girl for this whole damned miss – "

And then it hit her.

Her eyes widened. "Oh."

Shino sat up, shaking his head. He pulled off the kimono, leaving his hakama on, and Tenten watched him settle the fine garment on the bed as he stood and untangled himself from the rest of it.

"Oh god...I..."

"You astound me," Shino said, turning to face her. "You have always been one of the most sensible and responsible kunoichi I have known, and yet you fell to pieces. Why?"

She gulped.

"Is it because I was your partner? Would you have preferred Shikamaru?" His lips twisted. "Perhaps you should not have stepped in to spare my feelings, Tenten. I hate to think that I have caused any trouble on your part."

"_What?_" She asked, wide-eyed. "No, that's not – "

"Although even then I would have thought that as a professional you could overcome your feelings," Shino continued, his voice growing harsher with his words. "If you will think of nothing else, think of how difficult it was for me to attempt to keep up a charade with a partner who was doing everything imaginable to throw the mission. Flirting with the daimyou, getting drunk, being belligerent in etiquette training."

"Belligerent?" Tenten gasped, narrowing her eyes at him. "I'm sorry if you think my normal behaviour is belligerent – I'm sorry I'm not some upper class frufru who knows twenty different ways to flutter a bloody fan!"

"That is not an issue - "

"Apparently it is!" Tenten snapped, her voice rising. "Did you ever stop and think for one second while you were criticising me from every damned angle that you were criticising _me_? Wouldn't _you_ been driven to drink by how completely _inadequate_ you apparently are?"

Shino stared at her, his lips parted.

"And what's worse; imagine being so completely criticised by someone you really like – someone you respect, someone who you want to like you." Tenten laughed humourlessly. "Well, I guess I proved you right, didn't I? It was stupid of me but at least you can rest in the knowledge that you were righ – "

Shino's hand slammed against the wall as he appeared in front of her. "I _never_ criticised you because there is nothing to criticise! I only wanted to aid the mission. It was all I ever intended with no slight aimed towards you. And I criticise you now, because you would have willingly gotten yourself killed. I could have been faced with your death, Tenten."

"Jeopardising the mission?" She snorted. _Don't cry, Tenten. Don't cry._

"Damn you," he snapped. "I care whether you live or die. Do you not care?"

Tenten stared at him, blood rushing to her face. "Wh-what?" Shino saying something like that was tantamount to...well...

Shino looked winded. "I...should not have said that." He looked down and ran a hand through his hair. "I lost control of myself. You are good at making me lose control of myself."

Tenten studied him, her heart in her throat. "Shino..."

"I apologise," he said. "I have bothered you. I will go." He started to turn away, and Tenten reflexively grasped his arm.

"Please don't!" She stepped closer. "I...I'm really sorry. About everything." She swallowed. "I shouldn't have gotten carried away. And I made a complete idiot of myself last night, wishing that you cared whether I flirted with the daimyou or not."

Shino tensed. She saw muscles in his jaw ticking. "Please tell me you did not do that for my benefit."

She flushed. "Well, I...um..."

"You are incorrigible," Shino muttered. He turned towards her. "You flirted with the daimyou because of me."

It wasn't a question, but it may as well have been.

"I let the lie take on shades of the truth," Tenten admitted. "I started to like you more and more, until it became too hard to think that the way you were acting towards me was fake. I wished it was real. But you always seemed to walk away. To have something critical to say..."

Shino stared at her. Slowly, he raised his hand to her face. Tenten leant in to his touch, looking at him pleadingly. "I am sorry for misleading you," he said.

She blanched.

"I meant with my actions," Shino said quickly. "I meant what I said. I would care if you lived or died, Tenten."

She smiled. "Thanks, Shino. Though...I do wish you'd saved me the embarrassment of clambering all over you."

He cleared his throat. "You were...persuasive."

"I think pushy is a better word."

"Dominant."

"Heh...I like that."

"It will not last for long."

Tenten blinked. "What? What's that supposed to me – "

His lips pressed against hers – warm and firm and demanding. Tenten leant into his touch, her hands resting on his bare chest.

She knew that this wasn't the end of their trials by a longshot. But if they managed to solve all of them like _this_, it'd all be worth it in the end.


	12. Father's Day

_DISCLAIMER: I don't own Naruto, I just play with the characters._

_MISC: Okay, first - I realised that I was in such a hurry to finally upload the last chapter that I forgot to reply to some things!_

_Firstly, I want to thank everyone for reviewing - you're all brilliant! I really, really appreciate it - the reviews have helped me drink enough coffee to carry on writing (lol)._

_Secondly - I was really worried about how people would perceive the 10th chapter, because it's so different from my usual ShinoTen stories and much more akin to my HidaTema. But I got such incredible feedback from all of you. It really made me happy, because that story ripped me open. I think the song I was listening to really didn't help. I had Black Lab's "This Night" on repeat and I was nearly crying by the end of that chapter. So yes - thank you all for your support and your awesome words._

_On that note - xXxSilverMoonxXx: As tempting as revisiting Serial Killer!Shino is, I couldn't do a sequel where Tenten helped Shino escape. That's part of what made that chapter so dark - Shino has to pay for his crimes because no matter what, he killed people. And Tenten knows this. The only reason she kissed him is because he will already be suffering for his crimes by hanging. The only way I could possibly revisit Serial Killer!Shino would be a brief moment in his cell, and even then it would be bittersweet and painful and no more romantically satisfying than the original._

_NOW! This chapter is for Father's Day. I don't know if it's the same elsewhere in the world, but in England it's Father's Day on the 21st June. At the ShinoTen FC we've been having some Shibi appreciation for Father's Day, with art, videos, and fic (if you want to see more, come visit - and join heheheheh - the link is in my profile) and this is the third contribution from me._

_So - happy Father's Day, Shibi!_

_This fic will also introduce Shino and Tenten's daughter, Hotaru. I've already drawn her, she's on my DeviantART page (see profile), and I believe Snowsong (Eight-Days-A-Week - again, see profile for her DA links) drew her with Shibi._

_I'm experimenting with a different style in this chapter. I hope the new perspective shows a new side of ShinoTen. I should also note here - I don't know the name or condition of Shino's mother. This is speculation on my part._

_And when Shino calls Shibi 'old man' - this is a loose translation of 'oyaji', which he calls Shibi in both the manga and the anime. Another common interpretation of 'oyaji' is 'pops' - I prefer 'old man'._

_There is plenty of Rock Lee in this one, yes. Why? Because Snowsong RPs him so well that I have fallen in love - especially the idea of a Shino and Lee friendship._

_**KIRIBAN:** The next kiriban is at 150 reviews. Whoever gets the kiriban will receive a PM from myself letting them know they've got it, and they can pick the prompt for the next oneshot. _

**TITLE:** Father's Day

**PAIRINGS:** ShinoTen, faint KibaHina

**RATING:** PG-13

**GENRE:** Romance/Humour/Drama

* * *

-=-=-WEEK 6-=-=-

It is over their meal, as ever a private fair for only the two of them, that Shino hangs his head and apologises. Shibi has noticed his son's mood since he re-entered the compound two hours before dinner.

The boy said nothing, and so Shibi left him alone. If the situation called for it, Shino would come to him.

He says nothing to Shino's apology. He leaves the silence to speak for itself as a strange feeling settles into his stomach. Shino is a mature and capable boy, who rarely allows anything less than true crises to penetrate his collection. And even in moments of crisis, Shibi has never seen him hang his head and apologise.

In spite of his faith, Shibi is growing anxious.

"Tenten is pregnant," Shino says in a strained voice.

Shibi settles his chopsticks on the wooden rest by his bowl and wipes around his mouth with a napkin. His voice is deceptively calm when he says, "A Father's Day card would have sufficed, Shino."

Shino hangs his head.

He does not need to scold. Does not need to ask if this was planned or not – the answer is clear.

It leaves him with very little he can say that could be of importance.

"What do you intend to do?" He asks eventually.

* * *

-=-=-WEEK 6 ½-=-=-

Shibi sits in a high-backed armchair, a book open in his lap. For all intents and purposes, he appears to be completely absorbed in the pages.

His mind is projected through the book and across Konoha. He thinks of his son – of a particular moment, in fact. A young, four-year-old Shino, who asks about his mother and asks why she must live with the stars so soon, when other children still have their mothers on earth with them.

Children, Shibi knows, are always the first to suffer. And Shino knows this too. Shino knows this, even though he knows little else on the matter, and Shibi can only hope that what his son does know and what his son _feels_ will fill in the rest.

Because it is not something that can be taught.

Shino steps into the parlour, and his back is stooped. He has a small velvet box in his right hand, held out in front of him in a tense hand. "She said no," he says.

Shibi closes his book.

Shino sits on the floor, with his back to the doorframe. His shoulders shake, but his blank expression never flickers.

* * *

-=-=-WEEK 8-=-=-

"She has no intention to spite you, Shino-kun!" Rock Lee looks imploringly at Shino, whilst Shibi watches from the discretion of the doorway. He is a curious boy, this Beautiful Green Beast. He is not the sort of person Shibi would have easily imagined being friends with his son.

And yet...

"It's easy to get lost in the springtime of youth," Lee continues, trying to meet the downturned face of his friend. "Tenten simply needs time to understand the changes in the blossoms, the new leaves on the trees!"

Time. Shino is an endlessly patient boy, and yet Shibi suspects that it stems from the fact that he has _little concept of time_. Some things need to be done immediately. Some things need to be planned for. Some need to never happen at all. There is no happy medium for Shino – his son fails to see the wisdom in the words of Rock Lee.

"He is wise, your friend," Shibi says.

Rock Lee blinks, and Shibi is alarmed when his eyes well up with tears.

"Thank you, Aburame-san! I am honoured to be complimented by a man such as yourself!"

"Thank you. Please, do not cry on my account. You make me feel inadequate."

"I could never! I apologise, Aburame-san – I will run 400 laps around your yard in repentance!"

"You will what?" Shibi asks, amused.

"Lee..." Shino sighs.

"Do not run the laps as repentance, boy – do them because the springtime of youth compels you," Shibi says seriously, mostly curious to see if he will actually do it.

Rock Lee is outside in seconds. Shibi enters the parlour and places a hand over Shino's stooped shoulder. He watches the green blur shoot around the garden. "What a strange boy. But very sincere."

He looks at his son. "You know, for clans such as ours, people are always suspicious of ulterior motives," he says. Shino looks at the ground and does not react.

He has been standing in this way for a while.

"This applies to the battlefield of the hearts, not only the soil." He thinks of his wife. "Prove to her that you wish to marry her because you love her. Not because you have to."

* * *

-=-=-WEEK 10-=-=-

"She says that she will give it time," Shino says, "and that we should learn more about each other."

It is a mature decision – if not a little defensive – and Shibi nods. "She is trying. That is what matters."

For a young, athletic kunoichi to be in such a situation there is bound to be strife. Shibi acknowledges this and feels sympathy, even though he also acknowledges that this is their err in judgment and their responsibility.

And yet – can he call it an err in judgment, when already he feels pangs of excitement at the thought of his grandchild?

"You are disappointed?" Shino's face is shadowed, his head bent over his part of the shogi board.

"Never," Shibi replies.

* * *

-=-=-WEEK 13-=-=-

She is a beautiful woman in an understated way, Shibi decides.

He cannot decide what makes Tenten beautiful. If it is the way she respectfully bows to him and holds conversation with amiable guardedness. If it is her gentle femininity in spite of her occupation.

Or perhaps it is the way that even now, with the faint swelling to her stomach between them, she and Shino seem intrinsically linked to one another. If one was not looking for it, it would not be apparent. But Shibi – who knows the connection well – is watching them as they settle in the parlour with him for tea.

Shino does not ask her if she would like some tea, he simply pours it. Tenten smiles her thank you, knowing the gesture to be far more important than words.

"What...is this?"

"Ginger tea," Shino replies. "It is good for your morning sickness."

He has been reading on the subject. Shibi has found him in the compound's library at all hours, sometimes reading, sometimes asleep. He would shake his son awake, attempting not to laugh as Shino sat up with pieces of paper stuck to his face, and direct him to bed.

"Oh." Tenten refuses to complain, but she wrinkles her nose.

Shino pulls no noticeable expression, but she glares at him as if he has rolled his eyes at her.

Shibi smiles.

* * *

-=-=-WEEK 16-=-=-

"What made you fall in love with mum?"

Shino has never asked this question before. Shibi believes that it is because Shino may have once taken the fact that his marriage to Yui had been arranged...and perhaps his son had feared on some level that this meant there had been no love there after all.

The truth of it is that Shibi was very fortunate to have had Yui chosen for him. It was the small things that had made him come to love her. How she had read tacky harlequin romance books disguised as taijutsu guides. How she had played the shamisen with skill and grace. How she had been so serious, and so exasperated with his unrepentant sense of humour.

They were the things that were always unimportant on the first glance, but the most forgotten when kneeling at the grave.

As he tells Shino this, he is lost in the memory of Yui. Although he is proud of the rearing he has done of their son, he wishes day by day that she had been there to see it.

"Sometimes," Shino says, "I feel as if I should not breathe around Tenten. As though if I inhaled too strongly, she might disappear into my lungs and never come back again."

It is a strange way of phrasing it. It makes Shibi's eyebrows raise. And yet he understands.

And on some level, Shino has asked his question because you have to feel love to recognise it.

* * *

-=-=-WEEK 18-=-=-

Shibi is grateful to Tenten for many things. Most of them are to do with Shino, naturally. The way she loves him, the way she changes him into something wonderful.

He is grateful to her when she finally agrees to marry his son. It is a mixed gratitude. It is both because of the look of relief and pleasure on Shino's face, and because, from what Shibi has gleaned from Tenten's expression towards himself, she has also made her decision to prevent clan disgrace.

It is not her only reason. He knows this. And in making the decision, she proves that her love for Shino is influencing her choices. Such is the way marriages work.

They are married in a small ceremony, with Tenten's ceremonial kimono pulled tight over her belly. At the reception, Inuzuka Kiba is knocked flat after flirting with the bride, and Rock Lee drinks too much umeshu and destroys several of the trees in the yard.

Tenten is moved into a wing of the compound reserved for Shino and his wife, and Shibi sits in the parlour and reads, content with the life his son is making for himself.

* * *

-=-=-WEEK 20-=-=-

"I can't believe it!" Tenten pulls fingers through her bangs and paces in the parlour.

It has taken this long for an argument, and Shibi is grateful for that. With the marriage refusal hanging in the air between the young couple, Shibi has noticed a delicacy to his son that speaks all too well of the saying 'once bitten, twice shy'.

With Shino away in a tantrum of his own, he is left with the mother of his grandchild as she wears tracks into his tatami.

"Telling me I can't have Neji as godfather, _just because of some stupid rivalry_."

Shibi is sorely tempted to say that when Shino had recounted the first bouts of the argument to him, he had been against Hyuuga Neji being the _godmother_ of the child, but he suspects that his humour would fall ill.

"And now he's gone and run away," she snarls.

"You threatened to neuter him."

"Even so!"

Shibi places a hand on her shoulder. Tenten stops mid-rant, still wary enough of his countenance for him to have a profound effect on her. "The yin yang is a symbol of opposites. In a pond, the raised portion of a ripple cannot exist without a deeper trough of water next to it so that the pond might once again become calm and whole. This is the nature of relationships."

Her eyes are distant – saddened.

"With such opposites in relationships, decisions over such things as godparents – where personal preference might be involved – become distorted. This is why compromise exists."

Shino needs to learn this lesson as well. But Shibi does what he can, in small steps, just like he always has done.

Rock Lee is later named as godfather.

* * *

-=-=-WEEK 25-=-=-

"We are having a girl," Shino announces. He is without his jackets, and so his smile is direct and full. Beside him, Tenten is grinning, with one hand over her growing belly.

"We?" Shibi stops trimming the bonsai and wipes his hands on a cloth. "I was unaware that pregnancy continued to be a joint effort after the first stage."

Tenten flushes, and Shino folds his arms.

Decoration commences on one of the rooms. They are turning it into a series of pinks and soft purples that make Shibi crave candy whenever he walks past.

Sometimes, when he walks past, he sees them embracing. Paint brushes forgotten, splatters of pink on their clothing and skin, they stay locked at the lip as if it is necessary for them to breathe that way.

Shibi continues on his way.

* * *

-=-=-WEEK 32-=-=-

"It is disgusting. Tell me my daughter will not eat like that when she is born."

Shibi cocks a brow. Shino has just come back from purchasing Tenten's latest whims – red bean paste and watermelon – and his skin is tinged green after seeing her devour both items together.

"A woman's cravings are hormonal and nutritionally-based," Shibi explains, but he knows that Shino must already know this. He has read so many books on pregnancy and child care that it is a wonder there is room for anything else in his brain.

He looks at his son – his grown up, married son – and says, "As I recall – you made your mother crave the scent of freshly cut grass. She would make me cut the lawn constantly, so that she could inhale the chlorophyll."

Shino looks at him. Shibi thinks that it must confuse Shino, how regularly he speaks about Yui these days.

"Are you happy?" Shibi asks.

"I never imagined I could be this happy," Shino replies.

"SHINO!" Tenten calls from down the hall. "Do we have any jalapeños?"

* * *

-=-=-WEEK 36-=-=-

"It was horrifying," Shino says.

"It wasn't that bad," Tenten huffs, her hand over her almost full-term belly as she eases herself into a chair.

"It was _horrifying_," Shino repeats. "She could not get up. I told her not to do anything whilst I was out."

"I don't take orders," Tenten glared.

"I was thinking of your health!"

"And I'm fine!"

"Pregnant women are very much like tortoises then," Shibi muses, the image in his head almost too much to bear. "How long were you lying in the nursery, attempting to get up?"

Tenten flushes. "...not long."

"Half an hour," Shino says.

"My," Shibi says. He strokes his goatee.

"Stop picturing it," Tenten grumbles.

"I cannot help it."

"Be thankful he is not laughing," Shino sighs.

"I am laughing on the inside," Shibi admits.

Shino ignores him. "I am only concerned for your health, Tenten – and the baby is due soon..."

Shino is a worrywart. Shibi knows this, Tenten knows this...Shino most likely knows this too.

But Tenten reassures him and promises him that she will not attempt leg-lifting exercises again until after the child is born.

* * *

-=-=-WEEK 39-=-=-

Aburame Hotaru is born on the 18th of February. It is chilly day when everyone is sitting by the fire, and Shibi is shocked when his granddaughter suddenly expels her amniotic fluids all over his tatami.

Shino reacts as expected. He leaps up and stares, pale-faced and open-mouthed. Shibi sends a minor member of the clan to fetch a medic, and Haruno Sakura arrives with all of Shino and Tenten's friends trailing behind.

Shino enters the bedchambers with Tenten and Sakura, and Shibi is left outside with the crowd to await news. Two members of the clan wait at the door to infuse the baby with kikkaichu as soon as she is born. Although he does not move a muscle, Shibi has a flutter of nerves in his stomach that he has not felt since Shino was born.

Hyuuga Neji sits down and stares at a wall, his face tense. Hyuuga Hinata bites her lips and murmurs worriedly to Inuzuka Kiba, who seems confident and cheerful despite the screams that have begun to ring out in the bedchambers.

Rock Lee becomes so overexcited and tense that he goes outside to run laps at Shibi's encouragement. He attempts to distract himself by watching the green blur, but with every cry from Tenten comes an extra beat to his heart.

Not every child survives the infusion.

The cries of the baby are loud and healthy, and the two Aburame members and Shibi himself enter the bedchambers. Tenten is sweaty, Shino pale-faced but determined.

Shibi looks at the baby. She is small, with tiny rosebud lips and a thick crop of brown hair on her head. Already, he can see Shino's nose.

Shino helps with the infusion of the queen into his daughter, and Shibi feels foolish when the baby girl accepts the process without much more than a hungry grumble. He can tell already that she will be a wonderful kikkai wielder.

After her parents, Shibi gets the first hold of baby Hotaru. He sees so much of Shino in her – and in her expression, there is an echo of Yui that soothes his heart.

* * *

-=-=-21st JUNE-=-=-

Shibi receives a handmade pink card, covered in sprays of glitter that fall off and stick to him so that he sparkles for days. The front reads 'HAPPY FATHER'S (AND GRANDFATHER'S) DAY!'

When he opens the card, he can see a small handprint in red paint on one side. The only message inside the card reads, in Shino's steady hand, 'This will have to suffice for this year, old man.'


	13. He Who Sups With the Devil

_DISCLAIMER: I don't own Naruto, I just play with the characters._

_MISC: This is the mafia-style fic I've been promising Snowsong FOREVER. Here it finally is! There's more Shibi here, folks. _

_And when Shino calls Shibi 'old man' - this is a loose translation of 'oyaji', which he calls Shibi in both the manga and the anime. Another common interpretation of 'oyaji' is 'pops' - I prefer 'old man'._

_**KIRIBAN:** The next kiriban is at 150 reviews. Whoever gets the kiriban will receive a PM from myself letting them know they've got it, and they can pick the prompt for the next oneshot. _

_NOTE TO KIRIBAN WINNER - While as a rule I try to make the winner of kiribans the next chapter, at the moment I'm also doing a trade with Rel and so her chapter might end up on here first. Worry not, though. You'll get your chapter too!_

**TITLE:** He Who Sups With the Devil...

**PAIRINGS:** ShinoTen

**RATING:** PG-13

**GENRE:** Romance/Humour/AU

_

* * *

__I am in WAY over my head._

It was one thing to meet your boyfriend's father and have dinner with him. It was something else entirely to be led up to a huge mansion and hear: "I may have...neglected to mention that my father is associated with Yakuza..." from your boyfriend's lips.

Tenten could have thumped him. Well, as soon they were alone, she _did _thump him.

Okay, she could understand why he wouldn't tell her. It wasn't exactly the most successful of pickup lines, right? And his method had worked, damn him – now that she'd gotten to know him, she doubted she'd have been able to walk away from Aburame Shino because he was _that good_. You know. In _all_ areas.

But the choice would have been lovely all the same.

"You're going to suffer," she hissed to him out of the corner of her mouth, as they passed through the foyer and a man in a black suit went on to alert 'Aburame-sama' that his son and lady friend had arrived.

Shino grimaced. She realised now that his habit of wearing all black and dark sunglasses constantly might not just be a mixed vampire-goth-emo-rocker complex, but something to do with the criminal activity that passed right under his nose and probably through his hands as well.

Now that she thought about it, it explained not only the dark glasses but the big tattoo across his back.

_Damn it_.

"I'm gonna serve your ass to you on a platter," she growled.

"I do not blame you," he replied quietly.

"And use your head to play bowling with."

"...do you intend to threaten me throughout the evening?" He asked, sounding miserable.

"I intend on trying to make a good enough impression that they won't kill me – "

"Tenten – "

"And then I'm going home _alone_. Alone, you hear me?" Tenten sniffed.

It was a bit over the top, she supposed. She wasn't a stranger to criminal activity – a few of her friends were less than innocent, and her friend Temari's little brother really took the cake in the criminal line of work. Gaara's most recent achievement was stealing an expensive 42 inch plasma TV from a store he broke into, without leaving a clue as to who had done it...and then he'd returned the TV the next day, complaining to the manager that it didn't work.

She had to admit – she'd laughed long and hard over that one.

It was just that...well. Yakuza was another level of whoa. A _whole _other level.

Tenten glanced at Shino, tugging the hem of her small black dress down. "Is he like you?"

Shino nodded, his frame tense. "More amiable, perhaps. Why? He has...dealt with more people."

She snorted at his delicate way of phrasing things. "He's a Yakuza boss – dealing with people comes with the job, right?"

Shino turned his face towards her. "I truly am sorry, Tenten. I was...worried."

"Yeah? I'm worried now. What's he gonna do, cut off my head if I do something wrong?"

"Never," Shino said quickly. "You should be more concerned about his – "

"Aburame-sama is ready for you," the black-suited man said. Shino nodded to him, and turned towards Tenten.

"Please...?" He held out his arm.

"More concerned about his what?" Tenten asked, vestiges of panic creeping in. Shino shook his head, indicating that he didn't want to talk in front of the intimidating-looking man. More out of worry for her safety than anything else, Tenten latched onto his arm and followed him to the dining room.

Her feet felt leaden.

_Oh god, what do you say to a Yakuza boss? _

Taking a deep breath to stop herself from turning blue, Tenten tried to will her blood pressure down and followed Shino into the dining room.

The table was huge – a little too huge for just three people. Shino's father would be the only other person at the table, since Shino had no brothers or sisters and his mother had died in childbirth. The idea that three people alone were going to sit at this long table made her feel a strange sort of reverse claustrophobia. What was that called? She had no idea.

Shino squeezed her arm. She pinched him back.

"Ah, there you are, Shino." A tall man dressed in a dark suit came in from another door. His dark hair was as wild and unruly as Shino's, and he wore dark glasses with weird little bits of jewellery on them that made Tenten wrestle with the urge to raise an eyebrow. He had a small, close-cropped goatee and such a stern expression that Tenten was amazed that he greeted Shino at all –

Let alone hugged him. She watched, wide-eyed, as her usually distant boyfriend gave his small, crooked grin and hugged his father, slapping him on the back.

She realised that she still had so much to learn about Shino.

"Old man," he said, "...this is Tenten." He introduced her with a tone of excitement that made some of her anger melt away. It was as if he'd really wanted to introduce her to his father for some time.

The boss turned towards her, his face carefully blank. Tenten bowed low, her hands tightly clasped with the effort not to press them palm-to-palm, martial arts-style.

After a pause, the older Aburame bowed. "Tenten – a pleasure to meet you."

She rose from her bow, hoping her nervousness didn't show. "The pleasure is mine, Aburame..." She wondered which suffix to use.

"Shibi," Shino's father cut in. "Just Shibi, if you will."

The lump of nervousness turned briefly to horror. Wasn't that...taking liberties? To address him in such a way? He'd asked for it, sure. But...

"...Shibi," Tenten said, waiting for the sound of gunfire.

Shino's father simply nodded. "Let us sit." He led them to the end of the table. Tenten and Shino sat opposite each other, and she shot Shino a 'I'll never forgive you' look. Shibi sat at the head of the table, between them, and rang a bell. Immediately, a man came in pushing a cart of food.

"I have heard so much about you and yet never seen you, Tenten," Shibi declared. "I was beginning to place you in the same category as UFOs."

Surprised, Tenten's jaw flapped for a moment.

Shino, abashed, said, "Father...it is my fault, I – "

"He wanted to wait, to see if there'd be any point bringing me home," Tenten cut in, wanting to save Shino the embarrassment and possible dishonour in front of his father.

Shibi cocked an eyebrow. His lips quirked a little, and Tenten had the distinct impression that he had seen right through her. "I see. I gather this to mean that the two of you are quite close. Tell me, Tenten – what are you studying at university?"

_It's the third degree_, Tenten thought. _Without a flashlight or rope bindings_. "English...mechanics."

"A broad spectrum," Shibi said, sounding impressed. Their meals served up, all began to eat – Shibi with ease, Shino with cautious gazes at his lover, and Tenten with the careful movements of a watched deer. "And yet similar, in some ways. Do they still make the youths of the modern day read trash?"

Tenten coughed slightly. "Trash?"

"Most classics are sorely overrated. Well-structured, certainly. Well-structured heaps of trash."

Tenten felt her opinion of Shibi go up. "We're reading Great Expectations right now..."

"Ah. I have read some Dickens in my time, but Great Expectations was not all I had hoped for."

Tenten paused in the middle of drinking some sake. Filtered his words. Almost choked on the burst of hysterical laughter that bubbled its way out of her throat.

Shino looked aghast. At first, she thought it was her actions, and she sobered up immediately. She eyed the room for any signs of weapons that might be used against her.

"She found that amusing," Shino said, disbelieving.

"And you did not," Shibi replied.

"Your jokes make my ears bleed."

"You have no sense of humour, boy. What are you, a Hyuuga?"

Tenten tensed. Now, she knew that the Hyuuga family had an association with Yakuza – an association that she was at least half sure her friend Neji had managed to avoid, what with him belonging to a 'minor' branch of the family.

The mention of the name didn't surprise her so much as the venom it was spoken with.

She looked at Shino, expecting some sort of explanation or signal on his face. But his expression was completely blank.

She once again asked herself what the hell she was doing still hanging around.

"Your food is good?" Shibi asked her, and Tenten tripped over her thoughts as she tried to remember how to answer.

"Yes! Definitely." Not a lie – the meat was extremely tender and well-cooked. "It's perfect...I'm not a fan of rare food." If it looked like it could steal make farmyard noises at her, Tenten couldn't bring herself to look at it, let alone eat it.

"My wife was the same," Shibi replied easily, and Tenten watched as he and Shino seemed to have a silent battle over the last of the yasai gyoza on the plate in the centre of the table. "She believed that the killing of animals when not completely necessary was inhumane."

If she was anywhere else, Tenten would have thought she was being filmed or something – because at that precise moment, a loud scream rang out.

Not the sort of scream like 'omigod a spider just went down my bra'. No, this was the scream of 'OH MY GOD GET THAT POKER OUT OF MY FLESH NOW'. It made her jump and stare at the door that Shibi had come through with wide eyes.

She shot a look at Shino, who calmly chewed on his food and took a sip of sake.

"Tenten is a muay thai artist," Shino said, as if he hadn't heard anything.

"Muay thai," Shibi repeated, cocking an eyebrow. "I would never have considered that a female-friendly martial art."

Another scream – short, agonised. Tenten gulped, a piece of chicken going down her throat like a lead ball.

"She manages," Shino replied, with a little grimace. "She can be quite deadly."

Shibi looked at Tenten. "Oh, I see. Quite the disciplinarian, are we?"

Tenten flushed, so torn between the screams and Shibi's implication that her mouth flapped open and shut for a few moments. In the end, she squeaked, "I don't know what you mean."

Shino, red-cheeked, said, "I meant in the arena, old man."

"Of course," Shibi replied, having some sake and looking far too content with himself.

Silence ensued at the table. The screams grew in volume, and Tenten looked at Shino, who seemed to be avoiding her gaze.

_Say something about the weather, Tenten,_ she told herself. _Just don't focus on this. Just say something about the weather_.

"Is that, um, someone being tortured back there?"

She mentally slapped herself as she felt the colour draining from her face. Oh god.

Shibi cocked his head, innocently. "_Tortured_? Oh no. It is someone having a baby. Hospitals these days are so unreliable – it is just as safe to have a home birth."

Tenten stared. The temptation to point out that the screams were clearly masculine was overwhelming, but she valued her life. So she looked down at her plate and bit her lip.

A black-clad man in sunglasses – different from the first – came in through the Door of Mystery and leant over to say something to Shibi. Tenten found herself studying him for signs of blood spatters or entrails.

"I see," Shibi said, his voice suddenly taking on a tone that made Tenten put down her chopsticks and almost jettison her bowels. Shibi turned to them with an amiable smile. "My deepest apologies. I have some...business...that I must attend to. I may not return in time to finish the meal."

"Nothing too serious, I hope?" Shino asked, in a tone that suggested he was asking about something else.

"Never," Shibi replied, raising both eyebrows. He turned to Tenten. "I am very pleased to have finally met you, Tenten – we must have dinner again sometime, hopefully uninterrupted."

Tenten could do nothing but echo the sentiments in a high-pitched voice, bowing. She watched him leave with the suit-clad man. Then she turned wide eyes to Shino. "I think I should go."

He paused. His fingers hovered near his glass and he bit his lower lip. "This was a mistake...?"

How the hell was he able to tie so many different questions into one? Tenten rubbed her eyes, uncaring about her makeup – she cared more about the muffled cries coming from the door Shino's father had just gone through.

"I don't know. It's – it's new. And unexpected."

He nodded, the crease between his eyebrows deepening. "I truly am sorry."

Tenten looked at her half-empty plate, amazed she'd been able to eat at all. "It's probably best if I don't ask you about your part in all of...this," she said, gesturing around her.

"Not for now, perhaps," he replied quickly. "But you should, one day. Why? Relationships cannot survive on fallacy. That is why...that is..."

She nodded. "Okay."

The word was a bit of a cop-out, since it didn't say anywhere near as much as she should have. But Shino understood, Shino accepted, and his little smile was her reward.

"Hey...Shino?"

"Yes?"

Tenten looked at the door. "When you said there was something I should be concerned about with your father..."

He nodded, raising both eyebrows in an uncanny echo of Shibi.

"You meant his sense of humour, didn't you?"

"Whole-heartedly."

She had to giggle. If she could forget the fact that he was probably torturing someone right now, Shibi had been interesting to say the least. His typical bad dad-jokes explained Shino's own bizarre humour, anyway.

"Would you object to eating here again?" Shino asked softly, holding her hand across the table.

"Shino?"

"...?"

"Your father gave me a bit of a heartattack," Tenten confessed weakly. "In fact, I think I might still be having one. Maybe once it's over, I'll think about it."

"Understood."

"Oh, and I'm still going home _alone_ tonight."

Shino's only response was a quirk to the lips. He raised his sake cup to her, and Tenten glared.

She really wasn't sure who was the bigger devil right now out of the two Aburame men, but she was clearly gonna need a long spoon to dine with either of them.


	14. Hurt

_DISCLAIMER:__ I don't own Naruto, it belongs to Masashi Kishimoto._

_NOTES:__ Oh my GOD guys, I'm so sorry for the silence. I won't go into it too much but work, novel writing and life in general has robbed me of time. So I'll be dropping Ardently I Admire for now, at least until I can give it the time needed to write it, and Metamorphoze WILL be updated but not as regularly as before since I have other writing commitments. Sorry guys but hey, at least I'm not ditching it! I'm still not sure about Plastic Fangs. We'll see._

_I will, however, __be ditching the kiriban for now__. I just don't have the time guarantees to promise fics right now. To the winner of the last kiriban - two things. One: when time allows, I'll try and get it done. Two: you might want to rethink your prompt, it sounds very much like the third oneshot in this set!_

_If you want more information, I'll be altering my profile in the next few days to reflect the current circumstances. For now, rest assured that Metamorphoze will continue._

_Some other noteworthy things: _

_**1 -**__ There's a Winter Fanfiction Contest at the Shino/Tenten FC! There are prizes available to the winners, so if you're interested, check it out! There's a link to the FC in my profile, and when I update my profile I'll put a direct link to the competition. For now, it's on the last page. Please check it out!_

_**2 -**__ It's come to my attention that someone who reviews anonymously has been flaming ShinoTen authors. I don't know how to feel about this, though I admit, amusement is definitely there - this person (I'm guessing it's one person by the fact that they're doing it to ShinoTen authors and couldn't spell properly to save their life) doesn't even have the guts to make an account when they slander the stories, spew NejiTen propaganda and demand that the authors kill Shino. This is why I block anonymous reviews on my stories - cowardly people use anonymous reviewing as an excuse to spew vitriol and flame people without facing the consequences._

_So come on then, anonymous reviewer. If your convictions are that you like NejiTen, and therefore it must be better than our preferences of ShinoTen, why don't you back your convictions up with a proper account so that you look like less of a muppet than you do hiding behind an anonymous review, misspelling your insults and harassing good authors?_

_Normally I wouldn't even deign to give you the attention you must so desperately crave, but one of the authors you bothered is one of my best friends who in no way deserves your foolish little anti-ShinoTen spree. Listen: everyone has preferences, and they won't always match your own. Bitching at people with different preferences isn't going to make them agree with you and go 'you know what, that poor illiterate person who just insulted me is right! NejiTen is so much better!' Get real. You don't see us flaming NejiTen writers because we like ShinoTen so we respect the same courtesy._

_Anyway - leaving that particular baby in the pram, let's move on. Please do check out the competition, and if you haven't read them yet, check out Rel's stories for ShinoTen because they're awesomesauce!_

_As for this particular oneshot - it's a belated birthday present to Rel, who requested angst. Sorry dudes - it really is angst. I wanted to delve into a few things in this oneshot - the way grief and trauma effects time, and the way people go through phases of coping. It may seem abstract, but it's very true. Maybe some people can relate to it._

_So if time seems distorted, that's why. It's purposely done, I swear!_

_It's based on a song - Hurt, by Christina Aguilera. The lyrics are at the bottom of the fic. I listened to the song on repeat to write this._

**TITLE:** Hurt

**PAIRINGS:** ShinoTen

**RATING:** Teen

**GENRE:** Angst/Romance/Friendship

* * *

The sun hung low, sinking like a weight past the lines of the trees. The breeze was balmy but cool enough to refresh, and late afternoon crickets chirped around the pond and the tall reeds.

He watched her stretching her body out along the ground. A fine sheen of sweat was drying on her skin, her cheeks still flushed from exertion and faint sunburn. The scent of exotic fruits that clung to her only grew stronger in the heat, a balmy smell that made him think of places beyond the sun. She smiled at him, the last glow of the sky streaking her eyes with mahogany.

"Don't take your sandals off, okay?"

He leant back on his palms and looked up at the sky, noting the flashes of orange appearing through the blue hues. Beneath the tall collar of his underjacket, his lips quirked.

"Why?" He asked.

"You looked like you were about to. And I don't wanna smell your toe jam."

He raised his eyebrows. "I do not have toe jam."

"All guys have toe jam, especially after a spar like that," she replied, and flicked her index finger against his ear.

He wrinkled his nose. "I do _not_ have toe jam. Why? I am able to control my bodily temperature. Therefore – "

"It's nothing to be ashamed of, Shino."

"Then reassure yourself. Since you are unable to control your bodily temperature, you are the most likely candidate for toe jam. It also explains what I have been smelling."

She slapped him on the shoulder.

"I had believed it to be the pond, but algae does not smell like gorgonzola."

He narrowly avoided her next slap and gripped her wrist to prevent her from trying again.

"Beast," she muttered.

"Thank you, Tenten," he replied, his fingers loosening around her wrist. He stroked his thumb over her pulse point, watching her closely.

She raised her face to the sky, loose strands of hair blowing across her nose. The colours in the sky washed across her skin.

"It's like candy."

"What?" He asked.

"The sky. All those bright colours. Makes me hungry."

"It was most likely the training that made you hungry," he observed, but he looked at the sky and agreed all the same. The pastel colours were warm and inviting, like the candy wrappers of childhood.

"It's crazy, isn't it?" She laughed, somewhat breathless.

He unzipped his jacket a little and removed his hood. He liked to enjoy the dying of the light by letting it fall on his bare skin. "No. It does look rather like candy."

"No, that's..." She laughed again, her eyes falling down to the pond. "What I meant is...it's crazy how quickly you've become one of my best friends."

Realising his hand was still on her wrist, he squeezed slightly. The touch was not unwelcome to her – she never seemed to find contact with him objectionable.

In truth, he had little to no sense of time when it came to making friends...or enemies, either. Transitions were simply an occurrence that happened regardless of speed and it was always the bigger picture that Shino liked to look towards.

He could extrapolate with the best of them – even Shikamaru. But there were times and circumstances when Shino _just wanted to know_, and damn the journey to the answer.

"It depends on the people," he replied, although low in his stomach, he had the strange tightening feeling he got when he said something that wasn't entirely true. He bit the inside of his cheek. It would be easy to say to Tenten that they fell into friendship because they _fit_, or something equally clichéd.

However, Shino did not condone lying – especially lying to _nakama_ – and he knew that it had been quick for Tenten, but not so much for him. And their pieces of the puzzle were not properly shaped to fit together yet.

"Yeah," Tenten nodded, her voice faraway. She was watching the sky and Shino knew that she was once again mapping every movement of the sun, trying to calculate the point that it disappeared behind the ground. She'd been doing it ever since he had told her that no matter how much he watched the sky, he always seemed to forget the transition between the colours and the darkness.

She'd said that she would remember it for him.

"I have to leave for a mission tomorrow," Tenten said, looking at her fingernails. Shino tensed, tracking the way she scraped little bits of dirt out from beneath her stubby nails.

The crickets chirped away the seconds between them.

As always, Tenten broke under the silence. "I have to pretend to be a wealthy wife of a merchant in Mizugakure this time. I think Ino would have been better suited, don't you? I mean, she pulls off the whole 'wealth' and 'high class' scene a lot better than me." She snorted. "You've seen me try to walk in heels, right? I look like a man. Especially when I have to wear a dress that really limits my walking, you know? I think – "

"Who are you going with?"

Tenten's jaw snapped shut. Her cheeks tinted pink and he watched her meet his lenses with more effort and defiance than she should have. "My team."

"Your team," he echoed.

"And Naruto. We have to take him along to get him out of Tsunade's hair," she shrugged, her words somewhat clipped. She looked at him sidelong, the mahogany streaks missing from her eyes.

Shino put his hands in his pockets, realising belatedly that he'd only just let go of her wrist when her eyes narrowed. "I see."

That should have been the extent of it – even if irritation and coldness wasn't growing in his chest, Shino hardly saw the need to be verbose. The situation was clear even if she had not explained it in detail. No mission relying on a skilful farce would 'marry' Tenten to Uzumaki Naruto or Rock Lee.

It was nothing to be angry about, of course. Shino bit the inside of his cheek again, drawing blood this time. This kind of behaviour did not become him, either. He did not appreciate the swelling of emotion within him, like a rising tide of acid and lava that scalded his lungs on the way up.

Forcibly calming the kikkai beneath his skin. Shino zipped his collar back up. "You will be careful? Mizu is not the safest place of late."

"Of course," Tenten huffed, rubbing her arms. Half of Shino decided that it would be a good idea to give her his coat. The other half of him wanted to stay beneath the material and that half won as her sidelong look burnt holes through him.

"I mean no offence," he said tightly. "Mizu is a deceptive place – it often seems safe when it is not."

"Isn't that the same with everywhere?"

He stayed silent.

"Or is this some machismo bullshit?" Tenten muttered. "Because you're not gonna be there, you're so sure something might go wrong?"

Perhaps that was exactly what it was, although he failed to see how it equated as _machismo bullshit_. His eyebrows drew down. "Colourful language aside, I always feel more comfortable in missions where...people are at stake, knowing that I am there."

She opened her mouth to say something, her own brows forming deep Vs.

"Why?" Shino cut in. "I trust myself. I trust the decisions I make – that I will do everything within my power to ensure success and safety."

"And my team won't?" She sounded offended and it brought simultaneous prickles of regret and irritation to his skin.

"I did not say that," he ground out. "I simply meant that I can speak for myself and guarantee my own efforts."

Tenten stared at him. He could see her anger in the redness of her face and the way her fingers were twitching, as though missing the absence of a kunai or shuriken. He felt the first stabs of genuine anger within himself – anger that, once again, something he had said with good intentions (even if those intentions were disguising something not as good) had been lost in translation.

"You're unbelievable," she breathed.

"What?"

"_You_!" Tenten waved her hands around. "You're supposed to be this awesome person – this guy so big on morality and _rules_, but you've got everyone fooled, haven't you?"

Apparently it was very possible to feel hot and cold at once. Shino told himself that it was the weather, in an attempt to calm himself before he acted in a regretful way. But he could blame the weather for his ire as much as he wanted – he could not deny the hurt that bloomed in the prickling at the back of his eyes.

"I see," he said lowly. "I was of the opinion that you knew better than to believe me the man people whisper about in ramen bars."

Tenten flushed, and Shino knew that he had scored a hit that he had never wanted to achieve – he had wanted to leave the memory of Tenten discussing Shino with _him_ in the recesses of his mind, to move past it.

"If you believed me some perfect embodiment of a _gentleman_, then you are twice fooled. You have made such a mistake before."

It took her a moment to realise what he had said, but when she did, her eyes darkened until they appeared to be all pupil – he watched the brown disappear from them and fade into shadow.

"God," she said, and her voice shook. Shino's insides tightened, chilled – the air left his lungs with a painful gust. They had had their little quarrels before. They tended to be rather entertaining, in fact.

This was a disaster.

"You seriously believe that," Tenten said. "You seriously believe that...it's not even about Lee, is it? Or Naruto – it never is."

"Tenten – "

"You've always had some stupid issue with him, haven't you Shino?" He watched her clench her fists and get to her feet. He rose as well, his body steady despite the quaking of his kikkai and his own nerves within him. "You've done nothing but herd me away from him since the beginning. Why? Can't I be friends with _both_ of you?"

_You say it as though_ friendship _is at the crux of this matter,_ Shino thought snidely – and realised with the twisting of Tenten's face that he hadn't thought it at all.

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

He had never wanted to hear that derogatory tone coming from her – not from _her_. It broke something within him – snapped the elastic that held his tongue so that the acid boiled over against his teeth. "What it means, Tenten, is that I cannot be your _friend_ and stand by to see such a person throw your feelings back at you. I cannot abide such a person being looked at with care when he will not even look at you in return."

Her eyes widened.

"I should not be surprised that you have failed to recognise me as more than a subject of public gossip," he continued. Some small part of him in his mind was horrified, as though his body was controlled by something other than his rational mind. "It is in your nature to overlook the parts of people you do not wish to see, is it not? You overlook the fact that the Hyuuga can barely summon friendly interest in you, let alone romantic. You overlook your true friends, who could..." _...be more._

Shino gritted his teeth. It felt shamefully good, to unleash this. As though whipping her with his own feelings was payback for every little burst of bitterness and _je_...and anger she'd caused in him.

"But of course, you are correct," he said. "My efforts would be by the by. The Hyuuga would turn to _destiny_, and destiny is bigger than the both of us, no?" His voice hitched on the last word and only then did the mortification of the moment hit him.

Tenten was silent, her glassy eyes wide. He thought he saw her lower lip tremble and goosebumps broke out over his skin.

"You can't do that," she whispered. "You _can't do that_."

It was a testament to what had happened that Tenten – strong, durable Tenten – turned and ran. She ran from him.

From him.

Shino stared at the spot where she had been for a long moment. His mind stumbled and tripped over his thoughts before falling into a strange blankness. Everything disappeared and muted except for the fast thrum of blood in his ears.

He turned back towards the pond.

Ah, there. He had once again missed the transition into darkness.

* * *

Who was it that said that time heals all wounds? Shino preferred the reverse – that time wounds all heels. The Achilles heel, to be precise.

He had always found, in the moments when time stretched out like taffy and he was overly conscious of every minute, that the moments of pain and horror and regret that were meant to be swallowed up by the cosmos were instead prolonged. They were preserved like butterflies in formaldehyde, stuck to felt with pins and left there like raw wounds to gather dust.

Week One...simply was. It existed. It spanned time as it should. The sky continued to hang, heavy and greying with the signs of approaching snowfall, and the leaves continued to curl up on themselves and fall from the trees. They were orange skeletons across the ground, crunching underfoot like delicate bones as he walked over them.

Shino attended meetings, spoke to his teammates and played Shogi with his father with the strangest sense that he was viewing the world through a sheet of glass. Every word spoken to him and by him had the fatalistic sense of an unreality that could cause recklessness.

It made him afraid to speak, lest he say something out of character. Again.

He did not block Tenten from his mind – no, in fact, he made a point of thinking about her. Replaying their argument. Wondering what she was doing now. If she was enjoying playing the Hyuuga's wife. It should make him angry, he knew, to imagine them that way. It should give him headaches and stomach pains from the stress of it.

He could not summon the strength to care.

Instead, he watched the clouds darken the sky and stepped on the leaves on the floor, watching the dust they left behind get swept up in the wind.

He noticed that he had begun to remember the way the colours slipped into darkness, and wondered why it still did not stop the days from bleeding into one another until it was all kaleidoscope of nothingness.

* * *

Sometime in the second week, he became angry. He measured every moment until ticking clocks set his teeth on edge and his heart seemed to beat in tandem, and he still could not tell what day or time it was.

Shino could not pinpoint the exact reasons for his anger. He could not even pull anything specifically _Tenten_ from his jumble of thoughts. His mind was a wash of irrational feelings and wild kikkai, driven mad from his wrong-footing. He was sent home from training sessions and ordered to see medics. His father checked on him in the night and his cousins gave him wide berth.

And he had no idea why. He should know – had to know, really.

Was this what insanity felt like?

* * *

The third week was like shedding an old reptilian skin, except that Shino did not feel better for it. As the slime of a fortnight slipped away from his eyes, he was left with a cold clarity that instilled something that wasn't quite misery and wasn't quite defeat deep within him.

He had no idea who he grieved for more – himself or Tenten. His clarity came from emotional intelligence rather than mental or philosophical. A rarity for him. A complete reversal, in fact.

Everything seemed reversed these days. Unreality continued to plague him except that now it was bothersome, whereas before it was simply another layer of numb skin.

There were a few times that he genuinely pondered if he was going mad. It wasn't only guilt – he knew this. He had felt guilt before. He supposed that what he had said to her had been right – it depended on the people. It had been the perfect mix of mistakes, miscommunication, vitriol and desperation. And the people.

The guilt was merely another vial to the potion, and he was left with _this_.

He wondered when she might come back. He wondered if maybe it would be best if she didn't.

* * *

In the fourth week, he arrived at the hospital with snow coating his hood and shoulders. He walked through the sterile halls, passing people he may have recognised if he had paid enough attention. He went up the stairs and passed doors. If anyone called his name he did not hear them.

He entered a door on the left.

His father had once had a lengthy discussion with another clansman about the nature of the new machines that had been devised for hospitals. Shino had had other things on his mind than the _morality_ of a machine that breathed for someone. It had seemed like an insignificant thing to discuss at the time, when it had no relevance to present matters.

The beeping of the heart monitor, the whirring of the machines that breathed for, left him with the absurd feeling of being watched. Of being laughed at. The hairs rose on the back of his neck, his lungs filled with air, and only then did he look away from the rising and falling lines on the digital display.

He approached the bed and looked at her.

Losing unreality was like losing the old drinking friend who helped to give you liver disease. And none of the finer details and implications of that hit him or mattered to him – he simply had the overall sense that something bad but intrinsic had slipped away, leaving him exposed. Raw.

He had imagined what he might say to her. The silly child inside him had hoped he wouldn't have to – using every scenario from Tenten mending it all herself to her _simply not coming back_.

Shino made a loud noise, like a hiccup. It built up within him like a geyser – a wave of something that sent pain across his chest and shoulders. He wanted to say that it was hardly possible for a weapons master to almost be brought down by a _weapon_ – that it was a cruel joke rather than a logical end.

He wanted to hate the Hokage for giving her the mission, and wanted to hate the Hyuuga for failing exactly as Shino knew he would.

He wanted to be clichéd and hate himself.

But here, at the closure of the strange vacuum in time that he'd been living in for a month, all of the feeling left him in the shape of teardrops. They tracked over his cheeks in wet trails, slipping out from beneath his goggles and down to his lips.

Shino knelt beside the bed and wondered for the briefest moment that she didn't look broken at all – why, she looked like she was _sleeping_. And he remembered that that's what his old man had said about Aburame Yui, on one of the rare days that Shibi was willing to talk about the loss that had halved him.

He reached out and touched her hand. She did not move, and he was irrationally hurt by it.

He lowered his head down to the bed, burying his face in the hospital blankets. It was hard to draw breath, but the suffocating feeling was fitting. His body appeared to be grieving without him – his tears continued to fall and his shoulders shook.

But his mind was frozen in time. Formaldehyde.

"I am sorry," he said, startling himself at the sound of his own voice. "I am so sorry."

He lifted his head and held her hand. It was roughened from her training and a little larger than most women's hands. She had a strong build and had often looked quite indelicate to him.

Unbreakable.

"It is trite. I cannot say that to you now," he continued, his voice thick. "I..."

He was supposed to do this, was he not? Have a monologue over her form, at which point she would wake up – having heard everything he had said – and everything would be well?

Shino looked down at their linked hands. His was paler than hers – it looked more delicate, too.

"I reached an understanding with myself this past month," he said, clearing his throat. He ran his eyes over her face, looking for a sign that she could hear him. A sweep of her lashes against her cheek, a sound. "People believe that they have knowledge of themselves as they grow up, as they live. True knowledge. And perhaps that is true – but what they lack is the knowledge of being human. That is far more complicated."

Beep. Beep.

Shino looked at the flowers that littered the surfaces in the room – tokens from teammates, friends, her grandmother. Bright splashes of colour against the bland hospital walls. "I understand myself and my humanity now. It does not make me a better _person_, but it will make me a better man. I think you understand the difference – no, I am certain. Yes.

"As a person I believed I could admit anything if it was the truth. As a man, I could not admit something that would change everything. It would change me. Do you see?"

Silence.

"I was – _am_ – jealous, Tenten. I try to be a good person and a good ninja. I try to evoke the response in people that the Hyuuga does and I fail. Perhaps it is because I am a 'walking ant farm', as you once said. But I do not think so. Why? Because Uzumaki Naruto carries the nine tails...and he is still loved."

He took a deep breath. He often found himself getting irritated when speaking of Naruto. He supposed it was the boy's gift, to rub him the wrong way.

"To be loved is to be significant. It is only unfortunate that so many people look for it in the wrong place."

Shino wiped his face. He was still crying without have realised it.

"You are imperfect – as am I. Perfection is not real, Tenten – it is a bar created by people for others to reach for throughout the rest of their lives. I know your flaws. I have watched you make mistakes for years and I have never begrudged you them. Not until...even then..."

He coughed.

"Forgive me. I am worse than usual today..." This time he was aware of the tears that escaped. "What I mean to say, Tenten, is that I am a jealous fool who has been in love with you for the longest time." It came out as a whisper, so he cleared his throat and said louder, "I love you. You are...the other half of me."

Beep. Beep.

"I pushed you away. I am sorry – and I would say that I did not mean any of what I said but that would make things worse, surely?"

He stared at her. The silence stretched out. He counted every minute.

"If it is any consolation," Shino said, "I hurt myself when I hurt you. I forgot how to live. I most likely forgot how to die, too."

He thought about the blank spot between colours and darkness.

"Did you remember?" He asked.

She remained silent and still. Her eyes were closed. Her hand was limp in his.

Shino removed his goggles and wiped his eyes.

He would wait.

* * *

**Hurt - Christina Aguilera**

_Seems like it was yesterday when I saw your face__  
__You told me how proud you were, but I walked away__  
__If only I knew what I know today, ooh, ooh__I would hold you in my arms, I would take the pain away__  
__Thank you for all you've done, forgive all your mistakes__  
__There's nothing I wouldn't do to hear your voice again__  
__Sometimes I wanna call you but I know you won't be there__Oh, I'm sorry for blaming you__  
__For everything I just couldn't do__  
__And I've hurt myself by hurting you__Some days I feel broke inside but I won't admit__  
__Sometimes I just wanna hide 'cause it's you I miss__  
__And it's so hard to say goodbye when it comes to this, ooh__Would you tell me I was wrong? Would you help me understand?__  
__Are you looking down upon me? Are you proud of who I am?__  
__There's nothing I wouldn't do to have just one more chance__  
__To look into your eyes and see you looking back__Oh, I'm sorry for blaming you__  
__For everything I just couldn't do__  
__And I've hurt myself, oh__If I had just one more day__  
__I would tell you how much that I've missed you__  
__Since you've been away__Oh, it's dangerous__  
__It's so out of line__  
__To try and turn back time__I'm sorry for blaming you__  
__For everything I just couldn't do__  
__And I've hurt myself__  
__By hurting you_


End file.
